Persona 3: My Other Self
by PiColossus
Summary: Hamuko's dark past has somehow led her back to Iwatodai, where some of her worst memories took place and also where some of her best memories will be created. But what if another person came into her life and became a part of those memories as well? First fanfic, rated T (could change in the future), possible future pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Hello, and welcome to my first fanfiction I've ever written (at least the first I've posted online). First of all, I would like to mention that I, despite my previous WORKS OF ART, I'm an inexperienced writer and my quality of writing might not meet your standards.**

**Now, for the people that are still here; welcome! I was inspired to write this fanfiction after reading all the other fanfictions on this website, and I have to say that I really like the Minato x Hamuko pairing, and this fic will feature that pairing (with a few others, maybe). Just throwing that out there. **

**As for reviews and update schedule... I would gladly accept any suggestions whatsoever (even if they're minimal) and any reviews at ALL are a welcome sight (though I can't promise I'll respond to them, depending on the number I get. Chances are though, it'll be small). If you plan to follow this fanfiction, great! I want to try and update at least once a week, but there might be a point where that stops happening and may even stop entirely. **

**Anyway, I got that ALL out of the way, and thank you if you read all that! Now, onto the story! Enjoy...**

**NOTICE: Forgot to mention this earlier, but I tend to post chapters and make changes later. I'm not entirely sure if other authors do that often, too, but it's just something I feel is unavoidable. If I were to post a perfect chapter each time, this story would never be updated. Check back often for changes!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Persona, or Atlus, for that matter. Now, onto the story!**

* * *

**Moonlight Bridge, 1999**

The sky had turned green and all water had turned to blood. A fiery scene had taken place on the Moonlight Bridge, and a single family was in the middle of it.

"_H-Hamuko-chan…" _A weak and coarse voice said. _"Get out… of here…"_

"_B-but, mother! I don't want to leave you here!" _A small, auburn-haired girl was holding onto the shirt of an older woman whose body was crippled and with blood streaming down her face at an alarming rate.

"_P-Please, Hamuko… It's safer if you do… Daddy and I will be ok…" _The child knew her to be wrong, she wasn't ok at all; in fact she was bleeding to death as she spoke. Her father lay a few feet away, unmoving and mangled.

The auburn-haired child looked over to their overturned and totaled car. A gigantic creature with a terrifying mask, coffins strapped to its back and wielding a massive blade was battling against a female blond teenager who clearly wasn't human either. She fired guns out from her fingers and summoned a monster of her own as well.

"_**Hamuko, look out!**__" _Hamuko had no chance to process what was going on before she was shoved out of the way with her mother's remaining strength. Hamuko watch as her mother was hit by a flying car and was sent flying off the Moonlight Bridge. Hamuko stated silent with tears streaming down her face when she saw this. _"__**Mommy!**__" _She managed to cry out, but knowing fully that she couldn't do anything about her parents' death.

"_(Mother and father always wanted me to cheer up and stop being so quiet, and make friends. But they're not here anymore… What do I do?)" _Hamuko thought to herself. At that moment, she felt a new presence behind her. But she ignored this and continued to reflect despite the situation. "_(I know. To make sure my parents are happy, I __**will **__be friendly and happy. No more being quiet and crying all the time. I'll be a new person and make lots of friends!)" _Hamuko nodded triumphantly. Hamuko turned around to see a small boy.

"Target cannot be defeated." A robotic voice spoke. "Attempting emergency sealing procedure!" The blonde girl with bright blue eyes turned to the two children. The newly 'born' boy had dark blue hair and dull, gray eyes. He stood there as if he was perfectly comfortable with everything that had been going on. "Two suitable vessels found. Chance of sealing process succeeding: 90%." She said, with a tone of regret in her voice. The blonde girl summoned her own creature again and engulfed the other monster in a bright light. Splitting the ball in half, she launched it at the two children.

Unsurprisingly, Hamuko was frightened by this and began to scream, but the blue-haired boy's expression remained neutral. The two balls of light hit them, and all they was darkness…

* * *

**Iwatodai Train, 3/7, 2009**

Slowly cracking her eyes open, Hamuko woke up after a long ride on the train. She wore the Gekkoukan High School uniform and had her long hair tied up in a high ponytail, with hair clips organized to read the roman numeral 22, XXII. She also had a red MP3 and headphones dangling on her neck. She checked her wristwatch. 11:45. "(_Wow… That late already? I'm gonna get in huge trouble for being 3 hours late, I just know it. Stupid train_ delay…)" Grumbling, she made an effort to wake herself up fully.

She looked outside the window to see the darkness outside, and... a blue butterfly. It was glowing, and somehow managed to keep up with the train despite its slow wing beats and the fact that it wouldn't be able to fly that quickly to begin with. Instead, Hamuko shifted focus to the moon. "(_The moon is a lot larger here in Iwatodai..._)" She turned away from the window and huffed.

A few seats to the left of her, a familiar-looking blue-haired teenager was listening to music with his hands in his pockets. He basically was wearing the same thing as Hamuko, except it was a male uniform and his MP3 was blue. Why was he familiar, though…?

"…Do you need something?" The blue-haired teenager asked with a bored tone in his voice. Hamuko had been staring at him without even noticing. Catching her mistake and becoming red in the face, she managed to stutter, "U-Uh, n-nothing. Sorry for bothering you…" He accepted her apology easily and went back to listening to his music. His music sounded oddly familiar to Hamuko, for some reason.

"_The next stop is Iwatodai Station. This is our last stop, so please leave the train as soon as we reach the station. Remember to take all your belongings with you and thank you for riding with us today." _The inter-com voiced. That was the only talking there was to fill in the painfully awkward silence. The boy didn't seem to mind, however. _"He must like quiet," _Hamuko thought bitterly. Those two were the only people on the train at the moment.

"…" Hamuko heard an annoyed sound coming from the bluenette. She had been staring at him again. Again, she blushed and looked away. But instead, he sighed and spoke for the first time on the train. "…Seeing as you can't seem to get enough of me, I suppose we should introduce ourselves. Arisato Minato." He stuck his hand out. He introduced himself with a slightly annoyed and tired expression. Wait, she had heard that surname before. It was…

Hamuko extended her hand in response, but with a bright smile and cheery tone. Just like her parents would have wanted her to. "Arisato Hamuko! Nice to meet ya!" Minato nodded. "And we have the same surname, too! Though I don't think we're related. Oh well, good to see you anyhow!" He nodded a second time, and then he returned to his seat. Hamuko saw this as an effort just to get her off of Minato's back, but ignored it nonetheless.

Instead, she attempted to start a conversation. "So… Are you going to Gekkoukan High as well?" A nice and easy question to start off. "Yeah, I am." Silence again. She was beginning to get frustrated. She met people like this before, but she was usually able to get them to be friendly after a few minutes. But in this case, she was faced with a tough shell to crack.

Sighing in defeat, she slumped into her seat. The inter-com turned on again.

"_Attention all passengers. We will arrive at Iwatodai Station momentarily. Please do not forget any of your belongings, and we hope you have a good night._" The sound of a microphone being set back on its stand reverberated throughout the empty train. Hamuko checked her watch again. 11:59. "(It's_ almost __**that**__ time_ again…)"

Getting up after the train stopped, Hamuko and Minato exited the train, but Hamuko wisely stayed behind him, thinking that it would be strange to him if a girl walked in front of him and all of a sudden, she would disappear. Her watch's time changed to twelve and right on cue, the world changed. The sky became an eerie green, the unusually large moon glowed bright green, and all water became blood. All people became coffins and now they lined the streets. Except for Minato. He was still walking around at this time.

Greatly uncomforted by this, since Hamuko had never seen anyone active during this time (except for 10 years ago), she began to walk at a brisk pace, trying her best to get away from the unusual boy while trying not to raise his suspicion. Unfortunately, the casual teen caught onto this and grabbed her sleeve. Hamuko's cheeks had a slight dusting of red on them. "Are you headed to Iwatodai Dorm as well?" Hamuko gave a cautious nod. She could deal with anyone that tried to attack her or follow her. After all, it had happened before, and she gradually learned how to defend herself. Right now, the guy in front of her was almost asking for a kick to the face. Minato could see the untrust in her eyes. "Relax, I'm not going to do anything." He reassured. Somehow, his voice was especially soothing and calming. "I happen to be heading over to Iwatodai Dorm as well. Want to walk together?"

"Uh, sure…" She nodded in confirmation. She had never been here before, so having another person along to be the scapegoat/bait for creepy blobs of black was good. For her, at least.

* * *

After 15 minutes of walking, the two teenagers had arrived safely. Without hesitation, Minato walked up the steps and opened the door and walked through, keeping it open for Hamuko as well. What they didn't expect was a creepy kid in prison garb to be the first person to greet them. His pale skin and cerulean eyes that almost _glew _in the green darkness didn't help, either. _"_You're late. I've been waiting a long time." The child began. Then, he seemed to have pulled out two pieces of paper from out of thin air. He placed them on the counter to the left of the two. "If you want to proceed, then please sign here. It's a contract." Hamuko and Minato walked towards the counter and began looking at the contract. The auburn-haired girl was eyeing it carefully, looking for impossible-to-see fine print, while the other person was just signing the paper with an ink-dipped feather without any hesitation whatsoever. To Hamuko, this guy was _weird_, almost like an enigma that could never be understood. The boy clothed in black-and-white striped clothes sensed her hesitation. "There's no need to be scared. It only binds you to accepting full responsibility for your actions." Somehow, his voice and tone were strikingly similar to Minato's voice. Hamuko read what seemed to be the only visible line on the contract. "I chooseth this fate of mine own free will…" She muttered, trying to comprehend what it meant and if it meant anything else.

Still slightly hesitant, she picked up a feather dipped in ink that also seemed to appear out of nowhere and signed her name. _Arisato, Hamuko_. The boy grinned at seeing that, and took the two contracts and made them disappear into thin air. "Time is something no one can escape. It delivers us all to the same end. Wishing won't make it go away," He continued. "And so it begins…" He stated eerily.

A frightened girl's voice grabbed the attention of the two. "Who's there?!" The voice demanded from the shadows. Hamuko noticed a slight glint at the person's waist. Almost immediately, she recognized what it was and what it could mean for the two new residents. "_(A-A gun! Crap, this isn't good! I know, I'll use Minato-san as cover while I try to make my es- Wait, how is __**she **__still active during this time?!)" _Hamuko thought. Apparently she and the unknown girl with a gun thought the same thing. "How can you be… But it's… Don't tell me…" The girl drew her gun lightning quick but instead of pointing it at them, she pointed at herself, like she was hoping that would do something, or thinking that she would kill herself before anyone else could. Either way, she was stopped when a feminine voice with a tone of authority suddenly shouted, "**Takeba, wait!**" The terrified girl paused. Then, the lights came back on. Music began to play noticeably from Minato's MP3. He grabbed his music player and hit the pause button.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think you two would arrive so late. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live here in this dorm." The student who was speaking had flowing red hair and a white blouse with a red ribbon on. She was wearing a black skirt that reached to her knees and had high heeled boots on. She looked beautiful, but had an air about her that told people **not **to cross her, under any circumstances, otherwise they would regret it dearly. "…Who are they?" The girl beside her still looked shaken. She wore a pink blouse with the same red ribbon, and a miniskirt that showed off her legs. She also had light brown hair, which was notably uncommon in a place like Japan. "They're transfer students." Mitsuru responded. "It was a last minute decision to assign them here. They'll eventually be moved to a different dorm." The brunette seemed somewhat satisfied with her explanation, but still looked wary of Minato and Hamuko. "I-Is it okay for them to be here?" She asked Mitsuru. "I guess we'll see." She waved a hand in front of the brown-haired girl. "This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a second year, just like you." Yukari gave a shy and quiet wave. "Hi." She greeted quietly.

Seeing Yukari's clear discomfort, Hamuko gave her brightest smile and introduced herself. "Hi, my name is Hamuko Arisato! It's very nice to meet you, Takeba-san!" But her aura of distrust didn't let up. "(What_ is __**with **__the people in this_ town?!)" Hamuko was beginning to become even more frustrated, even though she didn't show it. "…Yeah, nice to meet you, too." Minato began to speak, "My name is Minato Arisato. Pleasure." Yukari nodded. Meanwhile, Hamuko stared intently at the gun strapped to her leg. Yukari blushed and looked at her feet. "U-Uh, well, it's…" Mitsuru saw her discomfort and began to explain for her. "It's for self-defense. We've had a number of break-ins in the neighborhood recently, and we can't afford to take a risk. It's not a real gun, of course." Hamuko broke her stare and nodded in understanding. "Makes sense. It's always better to be safe than sorry!" Mitsuru nodded as well.

"It's getting to be quite late. The two of you should head off to bed. The male rooms are on the second floor, and female rooms are on the third floor. Both of your belongings should be in your rooms." Mitsuru turned to Yukari. Yukari nodded. "I'll show you the way. Follow me." The group ascended the stairs and stopped on the second floor, while Mitsuru continued up. They continued down the hall, and stopped at the end, with a door to the right.

"Pretty easy to remember, huh? Since it's right at the end of the hall." Yukari chuckled nervously and awkwardly. The girls fidgeted uncomfortably, while Minato simply enjoyed the peace and quiet and simply stood there. "So, um, any questions?" The transfer students looked at each other for a brief moment, then turned to Yukari again. "No, I don't think we do, Takeba-san. Thank you." Minato answered with the same calming voice. Yukari noticeably eased up and relaxed her shoulders. But then she started to fidget again and looked down. "Um, I wanted to ask you two a question." The transfer students nodded simultaneously. "On your way from the station, was everything alright? I mean, did you see anything weird, or…?"

Minato spoke up first. "No, I don't believe we did. Everything was perfectly normal and familiar, wasn't it, Hamuko-san?" Hamuko looked puzzled for a second, but snapped back into reality and replied. "Yeah, it was pretty ordinary, as far as I could tell, Takeba-san." The girl had what looked to be a sense of relief and confusion on her face. "I see… Never mind then." She nodded. "Um, I'm sure you have other questions right now, but let's save them for later, alright? Good night, Minato-san." And with that, she walked away with Hamuko.

"Good night, Minato-kun." Hamuko spoke sleepily, as she walked towards the stairs with Yukari.

"You too, Hamuko-chan."

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: And that, my friends, is the first chapter of what I hope to be a good Persona 3 fanfiction! I've got a few ideas up my sleeve for what will happen next, but you can feel free to pitch any ideas of yours towards me. See you for the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Ok, time for another chapter of this fanfiction! I can already tell I'm getting better at this already, even... though... nobody has left me any reviews yet... *sniff* Ah well, I'll keep writing, regardless of whether anyone reads them or not! But if you are, thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Persona or Atlus, you can tell, can't you?**

**EDIT: Added a couple of lines to make one of the scenes _slightly _more interesting. Still considering more edits in the future (like, a lot, this chapter could have gone waaay better, admittedly)**

**EDIT 2: Cleaned the chapter up a little bit, and made it better. That's all. **

* * *

**Hamuko's Room, 4/7, Early Morning**

The bright sun shining through the opening in Hamuko's pink window drapes shone into her eyes and she groaned. "Ugh… Dang it, sun. Rise from the _other _direction for once! It's not even that late yet!" Then, she heard knocking on her door. "It's Yukari. Are you awake?" Hamuko, who managed to drag herself out of bed (although still very disheveled) answered the door to see Yukari, ready for school. "Uhh…" Yukari shook her head furiously. "Minato-kun is ready downstairs. It's time for you guys' first day of school here!" Yukari exclaimed excitedly. All she got in response was an audible groan from Hamuko. But she got ready regardless.

"Mornin.'" Minato waved lazily as Hamuko slowly descended the stairs tiredly. She simply yawned in response. "School, huh…" Hamuko quickly checked her schoolbag to make sure she had everything she needed. She did, despite always having a tendency to forget her most important school supplies on the first day. "(_Ah, those were the days…_)" She thought to herself. But while she was busy, Yukari and Minato had already left without her.

* * *

**Iwatodai Train Station, 4/7, Morning**

"Geez, you guys could've at least _told _me when we were leaving!" Hamuko said angrily. "We thought you would notice, Hamuko-chan! After all, weren't you staring at Minato-kun the entire time when we were back at the dorm?" Hamuko blushed profusely, either from the embarrassment of still being late even after watching someone she was supposed to go with leave, or just from staring intently at someone she barely knew. Hamuko stayed silent.

"Well, that doesn't matter anymore. What _does _matter is that you're on your way to school and on time. Oh!" Yukari suddenly snapped her attention to the side window. A beautiful view of the water emerged from the window. "Oh! I love this part, where it just feels like you're gliding over the water…" It was indeed a beautiful sight to Hamuko and Minato. Yukari looked like she was hypnotized and couldn't look away. That stayed the case for the rest of the train ride. When they got off the train, they were mesmerized by another amazing scene.

"…Well, this is it! We're here!" Yukari walked in front of the two transfer students. "Welcome to Gekkoukan High School! You're going to _love _it here!" Hamuko and Minato exchanged glances, and smiled at Yukari. Walking into the school, Yukari nudged the two on the shoulder and whispered to them, "But… Hey, don't mention what happened last night to anyone, you two. Alright, see ya!" She yelled as she ran into the school entrance. Minato and Hamuko followed at a walking pace. The two could hear some gossiping about them.

"Hey, that blue-haired guy looks kinda cute, huh?"

"Yeah, he looks a bit like an emo. But it makes him seem cool and mysterious..."

"Look at the girl beside him. Doesn't she look like his boyfriend? I mean, they look good as a couple, but..." Hamuko ignored the rest of the gossipers, trying to convince herself that it was just gossip and there was no meaning to it.

"This is gonna be an exciting year, huh, Minato-kun?" But said blue-haired individual was already tuning into some music and blocking out any potential conversations with the auburn girl. She sighed as they entered the front foyer, where the classroom listings were. Yukari was over there, and waved the two to see.

"Hey, look! We're all in the same room, see? Class F!" She pointed to the bulletin board with all the classroom assignments. All three of their names were under Class F. Yukari seemed to scowl when she saw the name 'Junpei Iori' with them as well. "Anyway, you guys are okay from here, right? You should go see your homeroom teacher first. The Faculty Office is right over to the left." Hamuko nodded, while Minato stood there listening to music, but also nodded in understanding. "…And that concludes the tour. Any questions?"

"*cough*Some tour…*cough*" A nearby student walked by, but Yukari stomped angrily in front of the student. Said student was wearing the standard Gekkoukan Uniform, except he had his coat unbuttoned with a blue-collared shirt underneath. His plain baseball cap that he wore forwards had a baseball-themed patch on it. "What did you say, Stupei?!" The boy she had called 'Stupei' was startled and backed off noticeably.

"U-Uh, nothin', Yuka-tan… I-I was just walking by here when you came along and started shouting at me!" He finished his explanation off with an incredibly awkward laugh that only served to make Yukari even more angry. She jabbed a thumb in his direction and turned to Minato and Hamuko. "This! Is Stupei Iori. He's in our class, and really annoying, too. Make sure to ignore him if he tries to talk to you, okay?" Yukari stormed off, leaving 'Stupei' groaning and slouching in defeat. Then, he sighed and turned to the transfer students.

Outstretching a hand, he introduced himself, "Heh, sorry 'bout that. Name's Iori Junpei! I transferred here in 8th grade. Nice to meet ya!" Minato accepted the handshake first. "Arisato Minato." Hamuko shook his hand as well. "Arisato Hamuko! Great to meet you! Oh, and we aren't related, just so you know." She pointed a thumb to Minato's direction. But he had already disappeared into the Faculty Office hallway. Excusing herself, Hamuko started to run in order to catch up. Nobody was telling her about when people were leaving, were they?

Hamuko slid the door to the faculty office, panting like mad. "Ah, you must be the other transfer student. Please, come here." A blond-haired woman wearing a dress shirt and pants of the same colour greeted Hamuko. "(_Maybe she and Yukari are related or something…_)" Hamuko thought to herself.

Nodding, Hamuko dragged herself around for the second time that day. The woman looked to the papers she was holding in her hands. "Arisato, Hamuko. 11th grade, correct?" Hamuko nodded in response. She was still catching her breath.

"And as I understand, the male Arisato says you two aren't related, even though the pronunciation and spelling are similar…" She mumbled. "Wow, you've lived in a lot of places, haven't you?" She turned to the girl who had finally managed to breathe normally again. "Arisato-kun is the opposite of you. His report said he was taken in by the Kirijo Group 10 years ago when…" The blond-haired woman's face turned to one of regret and pity. Hamuko turned to Minato, whose normally neutral face was showing slight sadness.

Instead of going on further, the woman looked at Hamuko's report and continued to skim through it. "Let's see, in 1999, your parents- Oh, y-you as well…" Her face had the same emotions again, and Hamuko's face looked sad, eyes tearing up slightly. "I'm sorry, you two. About your… losses." Trying to draw attention away from the depressing scene, the woman shook her head and finally introduced herself to Hamuko. "I'm Ms. Toriumi. I teach composition. Welcome to our school." Hamuko seemed to cheer up slightly, but still lacked the peppy energy she usually had. "Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you." Hamuko responded. Minato stood there, lips pursed.

"I assume you two have seen the classroom assignments, correct?" Ms. Toriumi received two simultaneous nods. "You're in 2-F: That's my class. But first, we need to go to the auditorium. The Welcoming Ceremony will be starting soon. Follow me."

**Auditorium, 4/7, Morning**

"…As you begin the new school year, I'd like each of you to remember the proverb…" The principal's voice droned on. His voice lacked any expression or passion at all; it was just a monotone and almost robotic voice going on about something that was hard to pay attention to begin with. Hamuko sunk into her seat. Minato was sat to the left of her, dozing off somehow without getting caughtbut he woke up when a student from the row behind them tapped his shoulder. Minato jolted awake and gave the person who tapped him a glare. He shrugged and began to whisper.

"Hey, you came to school with Yukari and that other transfer student, right? I saw you three walking together this morning." Minato nodded. It was clear to him what he wanted. "Hey, I have a question. Do you know if either of them have a boyfriend?" Hamuko felt slightly irked at that question being asked, especially since it involved her.

Minato answered, "I don't know, I just walked with them to school this morning. Sorry." The other student looked disappointed. "Hmm… Alright, never mind. Thanks for telling me." He slouched back into his seat, where his friend tried to encourage him.

"I hear talking. I believe it's coming from Ms. Toriumi's class…" An arrogant teacher's voice pointed out. Somehow, Hamuko could already tell she wouldn't like that teacher just from hearing his voice. "Shh! Be quiet! You're going to get me in trouble." Ms. Toriumi's voice whispered. Despite that, students began to talk. Hamuko looked over to Minato again. At least now she could accidently stare at him without him knowing… The principal continued to drone on…

* * *

**Classroom 2-F, 4/7, After School**

Hamuko was sitting at her desk, packing things up while Minato dozed off in the desk in front of her. Junpei walked up to them. "'Sup, dudes?!" Hamuko paused her packing and Minato let out a loud yawn while stretching his arms. "How's it goin'?"

"Whaddya want?" Minato asked. Junpei frowned at his rudeness. "Hey, I just wanted to say "hey." Y'know, you guys being the new kids and all might be kinda tough. I know what it feels like. See what a nice guy I am?"

Hamuko giggled at Junpei's attempt to act friendly. "Sure, Iori-kun. You are a pretty nice guy!" Hamuko praised. Junpei blushed slightly. "Heh, thanks. And don't worry about the 'Iori', just call me Junpei!" Hamuko nodded. "Sure, Junpei!"

Junpei turned his attention to the right, where Yukari was walking towards the group. "Hey, it's Yuka-tan! I didn't think we'd be in the same class again."

Everyone heard a sigh, and turned to face Yukari. "At it again, are we? I swear, you'll talk to anyone who'll listen. Don't you think you might be bothering someone?" Yukari scolded. Junpei looked like he was dejected, even though it was obvious that scolding happened on a regular basis.

"What? But, I was just bein' friendly! Nothin' wrong with that, right? We even introduced ourselves when you left!"

Yukari looked to the auburn-haired student and blue-haired student, and rolled her eyes. "Didn't listen to me, huh? Well, don't say I didn't warn you! Anyway, turns out we're in the same homeroom, huh?"

"*cough*That was obvious.*cough*" Junpei got another glare from Yukari. "Uh, by the way, I heard you three went to school together this morning. What's up with that? C'mon, gimme the dirt! People are saying Yuka-tan and Minato-kun are _pretty _close!" Hamuko twitched violently. Everyone's attention (except Minato's, who went back to sleep). "U-Uh, ahaha." Hamuko chuckled awkwardly, noticing that everyone's eyes were on her.

Yukari's attention eventually turned back to Junpei. "Anyway, what are you talking about?! There's nothing going on between us! In fact, we just met _yesterday_! _Y-E-S-T-E-R-D-A-Y_!" Yukari was shouting at the top of her lungs. Even Minato woke up from all the noise. "We just live in the same dorm! That's all, okay? Why are people even talking about it? Now you have me worried…" She turned to the two transfer students, Hamuko who was enjoying the scene before her, and Minato who looked bored. "Hey… You two didn't say anything to anyone about… You know what, did you?"

"No, we didn't, Yukari. There's no need to worry!" Hamuko reassured her. Minato shook his head.

"Whew, good. Seriously, don't say anything to anyone about what happened last night, alright?" As soon as the words 'last night' came out of Yukari's mouth, Junpei exploded.

"L-Last night?! You don't mean you…?" Junpei's gaping wide mouth turned into a sly grin. "Don't worry, Yuka-tan!" He slapped a hand on Minato's and Hamuko's shoulders. "We won't tell _anyone _about what you did last night! Hahaha!"

"W-What?! No, no, don't get the wrong idea! Listen! I just met these two yesterday and there's nothing going on between _any _of us, got it?! Or do I have to nail it into that melon of yours you call a head?" Yukari threatened. "Geez… No need to get all worked up. We were joking, couldn't you tell?"

"Yeah, Yukari-chan. Besides, they're rumors! There's no need to worry about them, right?" Hamuko reassured her, but even she was unsure about what she was saying.

Yukari sighed again. "Anyway, I've gotta go. I've got something to take care of for the archery team. But, you guys better not start any rumors." Yukari began to walk away, but she stopped and turned around one last time and shot everyone a glare, especially to Junpei, who was whispering in Minato's ear. "**Got it?!**!" Junpei instantly straightened up and nodded. "Y-Yes, ma'am!"

"Good."

After she walked away, Junpei began to speak again. "Man, she's so paranoid. Nobody even takes rumors seriously! Anyway, it's you guys' first day here and people are already talking about you two! Heheh, this is gonna be a fun year, I can feel it!" Hamuko smiled brightly. "Yep! I'm looking forward to it!" She chirped.

"Yeah, it's going to be interesting, all right." Minato spoke for the first time in a while. As they got up and exited the school, they were greeted by a lively scene. "(_Wow, this school is pretty exciting, isn't it?_)" Hamuko thought.

A group of female students were crowding around a confident-looking male student. Joggers ran past the three as they walked out of the school gates. "Hey, you guys want to go get some ramen? I know a great ramen place we should go to; Hagakure! How about it?" Junpei asked.

"Okay! Let's go, Minato-kun!"

"…Sure." Minato nodded. He was ready for a snack.

Although 'snack' didn't equate to 15 extra-large bowls of ramen for Junpei. "*sniff*Rest in peace, wallet." Hamuko gave him a pat on the back. "Don't worry Junpei! We can arrange a funeral for it! With _your _money, of course! *giggle*" Hamuko teased. Junpei groaned and continued to cry from his financial losses.

* * *

**Iwatodai Dorm 1****st**** Floor, 4/8, Evening**

"…Oh, you guys are back!" Yukari greeted the two students who had just entered the dorm.

"So, these are our new guests…" A sophisticated-looking gentleman greeted them. He wore a beige-colored suit, along with rounded glasses. His brown hair was long and went down to near his shoulders. "Good evening." Hamuko greeted him in response. "Good evening to you as well, Mr…?"

"Oh, I apologize for my manners. My name is Shuji Ikutsuki. I'm the Chairman of the Board for your school." Ikutsuki paused. "'Ikutsuki'… Hard to say, isn't it? That's why I don't like introducing myself. Even _I _get tongue-tied myself sometimes…" He waved his hands to the couches in the lounge. "Please, have a seat." Everyone walked over and took a seat, and Hamuko, who was especially grateful for the seat since she spent her entire afternoon waiting in line at a music store for a new song from one of her favourite song artists.

Ikutsuki began, "I apologize for the confusion regarding your accommodations. However, it may take a while longer before you receive the proper room assignment."

"That's okay, Ikutsuki-san. Personally, I don't mind living here to be honest with you." Hamuko felt she could get particularly close to the dorm residents. Ikutsuki smiled and nodded. "That's good. Perhaps we don't need to move you after all… Anyway, is there anything you'd like to ask?"

"Why are you here?" Minato spoke for the first time that evening. "(_This guy always has a first time when it comes to speaking… Not to mention that was a pretty rude question, too!_)" Hamuko thought to herself. "To welcome you, of course. Well, to be honest, I do have other business here. Speaking of which… Where's Mitsuru, Yukari?"

"She's upstairs." Yukari answered simply.

"As diligent as always. Although, it doesn't hurt to come down and say hello… Are there any other questions you have?" Minato shook his head and Hamuko offered no protest after standing around all day. She personally wanted to get to bed, despite her normally cheery and energetic attitude. "Then, I hope you have a successful school year. Now, if you'll excuse me…" He stood up. "You must be tired from all the excitement. You two should get to bed early tonight."

"_**YES!**_" Everyone's attention snapped to Hamuko once again. She stood up and shouted, with her arms stretched above her. "Uuhhhh… *cough*Yeah, I agree. I seem to be pretty exhausted. Let's turn in for tonight, Minato-kun."

"Mmkay." Minato stood up as well, although in a much more relaxed manner.

"I'm glad you two are already settled in. Now, off to bed. As they say, "The early bird catches the bookworm!" …Please forgive the pun. *chuckle*" Ikutsuki apologized with a smirk.

"…You'll get used to his lame jokes…" Yukari assured the two.

"Really? Personally, I think I'll enjoy them." Hamuko received even more weird looks from the two other students. "…What? They're funny, aren't they? I mean, "Rather than reading and wronging in school, you should be reading and _writing _in school!" Eh? Eh?" The stares didn't let up. "…I'm goin' to bed."

**Iwatodai Dorm 4****th**** Floor, 4/8, Late Night**

A large monitor in the room was displaying complicated graphs and diagrams. The monitor was hooked up to an equally complicated keyboard and control panel. "Working hard?" Ikutsuki walked into the room. Mitsuru and Yukari were at the supercomputer. "So, how're they doing?"

"They went to bed a little while ago. They're asleep now. Though… The male Arisato seemed to have left a little surprise for us…" Mitsuru mentioned with an amused tone in her voice.

"Oh really? What was it?" Ikutsuki asked curiously. Yukari was giggling to herself. She waved Ikutsuki to watch the large monitor. The screen flickered to show Minato's room. "Oh my…" Ikutsuki couldn't help but smile at what he saw. "Not only has he managed to seek out the hidden camera in his room, he's also left something for us to see. I hope we can still recruit someone with as good a sense of humor as Minato-kun…"

The room on display was simple, with a bed in the corner, a sink and mirror and a work desk. But much of it was blocked off by a makeshift stand he had set up and placed a book on it. It read, "Spying on Sleeping Teenagers for Dummies".

"Yes, I certainly wouldn't mind a recruit such as Arisato-kun to join," Mitsuru admitted shamelessly.

"Yeah, I agree!" Yukari exclaimed. "He's probably _waaay _funnier than you, Mr. Chairman! And even though he doesn't talk much, that just makes it funnier when he does!"

"H-Hey! I'll have you know that "I made so many good jokes that an assassin came and _rimshot _me!" Hehehe!" Yukari and Mitsuru shook their heads, disapproving his joke. "Anyway, Mr. Chairman, do you think he's…"

"Well, let's wait and see for now." He replied grumpily, still discouraged and annoyed that nobody appreciated his joke. "The Dark Hour is approaching." The three watched a clock mounted on the wall as it hit midnight. And as they expected, the world completely shifted from its normal and familiar atmosphere to a creepy and hostile one.

"Hmm… They're still sleeping." Ikutsuki plainly stated. "The Dark Hour occurs every day at 12 midnight; you could say it's the hidden hour. During this time, an ordinary person Transmogrifies into a coffin, and is oblivious to all that occurs." Ikutsuki explained.

"Then they must be…" Yukari realized.

"As you can see, they've retained their human form. They're asleep, but they're definitely experiencing the Dark Hour. The only question remains whether or not they have the potential. If even one of them has the potential… Although, they _both _must, otherwise they would've preyed on them by now." Ikutsuki concluded.

"Scary…"

"In any case, we should continue to monitor them for a few more days."

"Yes, Sir." Mitsuru responded.

"I feel kind of bad though, spying on them like this…" Yukari muttered.

* * *

**?-?-? , 4/8, Dark Hour**

Hamuko and Minato felt the sensation of flying super quickly towards a door that barely managed to open at the last moment before they crashed into it. When they awoke, what they saw surprised them and puzzled them. The two were sitting in what looked to be a very large elevator that was travelling upwards at an impossibly fast speed. The entire elevator and everything in it was some shade of purple or blue. And in the middle, an eerie-looking man with an extremely long nose was seated on a couch in front of a small table. On both sides of him a man and woman stood. Both had creepy golden eyes, white hair and wore blue clothing that matched the 'theme' of the location.

"Welcome… to the Velvet Room." The long-nosed man began. "My name is Igor. …I am delighted to make your acquaintance." Igor adjusted his folded hands to switch over each other. "These two are Theodore and Elizabeth. They are both residents of this place, like myself.

"Pleased to meet you," Both residents answered at the same time. "(_Creepy…_)"

"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… It's been years since we've had a guest." Igor suddenly waved a hand over the small round table. Two sheets of paper appeared on it, one signed "_Arisato, Hamuko" _and the other signed _"Arisato, Minato_". "Only those who have signed the contract may enter this place… Henceforth, you two shall be welcome in the Velvet Room. You two are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my help to do so." Igor explained. "I only ask one thing in return. Right now, Hamuko was looking as if she just signed her soul to the devil. Minato remained stone-faced. "…that you abide by the contract and assume responsibility for the choices you make." Oh never mind. Hamuko always does that. "We understand," Minato answered for the both of them.

"Hold onto this…" Igor waved his hand in the air. Two blue but bright lights flashed above the table. Minato and Hamuko felt something cold and metal in their left hands. A key… "'Till we meet again…" And all the two saw was darkness again.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: ...And _that _is the end of chapter 2. Don't worry, this story will move faster soon enough. Game introductions can be kind of long and boring, especially when you're talking about Persona games. Anyway, see you for the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Alright, time for another chapter! And... Wow. I'm quite surprised at the number of people following and favoriting this story, despite the fact that it's TWO chapters in. Guys, you're spoiling me. Although, I was and still am severely disappointed by the number of reviews. You have to give me somethin' to work with, guys!**

**Anyway, another few days, another chapter. Enjoy! I paid closer attention to how I wrote this, so hopefully it'll be better than last chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Persona, or even Atlus for that matter. If I did, they would come crashing down onto everyone and people would die from my ability to run companies.**

* * *

**Iwatodai Dorm 4****th Floor****, 4/9, Dark Hour**

"…How are they?" Ikutsuki asked Mitsuru, who had an expression of disappointment. Yukari, on the other hand, was almost feeling relieved that she didn't have to get her classmates involved in their activities.

"…They're the same as last night." Mitsuru answered.

"Hmm… Very interesting. Even those who have the potential tend to be unstable at first," Ikutsuki continued. "Memory loss, disorientation…"

Yukari shuddered loudly in her seat. "Ugh, I remember that…"

"Yes, Yukari. We know that wasn't a pleasant experience for you. But, these two subjects are rather unique. They haven't exhibited _any _of the common symptoms." Ikutsuki stated.

"…But, we're treating them like guinea pigs. I feel kind of bad…"

"I understand your concern, Yukari, but it's imperative that we recruit new members. I even heard they're your classmates… Wouldn't you be more comfortable working with people from the same grade?" Ikutsuki asked, trying to convince Yukari that Spying on Sleeping Teenagers (for Dummies) was fine.

"Yeah, I guess… But, still…"

A sound reverberated through the command room. "Command room." Mitsuru answered to the sound. "Is that you, Akihiko? Where are you?"

"√\__You're not gonna believe this… This thing is huge!_ √\_" Akihiko's cracking and static voice came through the speakers of the supercomputer. "√\__Unfortunately, I don't have time to talk… It's chasing me…_ _I wanted to let you guys know. I'm almost there._ √\_" Faces of shock and concern replaced the calm faces of Mitsuru and Ikutsuki. Yukari's face became even _more _worried.

"D-Does that mean he's bringing that thing _here_?!" Yukari voiced her blatantly obvious concern. Mitsuru stood up from her chair.

"Mr. Chairman… Let's suspend our observation for now. We'll prepare for battle."

"R-Right. Be careful!" Yukari and Mitsuru ran down to the first floor of the dorm. A rattling chain was heard as the silver-haired teen, Akihiko, closed the door and leaned against it.

"Akihiko!" Mitsuru said, worriedly. Yukari ran up to him and tried to place a hand on his shoulder, but Akihiko recoiled in pain, clearly written on his face.

"Senpai!" Yukari also said in a worried tone.

"I'm alright," He reassured. "Get ready to be surprised… It'll be here any second." He mentioned in an anxious and excited tone. Mitsuru glared at him in response.

"This is no time to joke around!"

"It's one of _them_, Akihiko?!" Ikutsuki asked.

"Yeah, but not an ordinary one-" The dorm shook violently as he said that. After the shaking subsided, Mitsuru pulled out her silver gun.

"Mr. Chairman, please head for the command room. Takeba, go upstairs and wake the two up! Then, escape through the back."

"But, what about you two?" Yukari asked.

"We'll stop it here. You led it to us, Akihiko, so I'm afraid you'll have to fight." This time, Akihiko glared at Mitsuru.

"Like I had a choice!" He turned to Yukari. "What are you waiting for Yukari? Go!" Yukari nodded nervously and ran off.

**Iwatodai Dorm 3****rd**** Floor, 4/8, Dark Hour**

Hamuko heard loud banging sounds on her door. She had already been dressed as soon as she felt rumbling. "Wake up!" A frantic and desperate voice called out from behind the door. It was Yukari. "Sorry, I'm coming in!" The door opened, and Minato was beside Yukari, holding a shortsword. Hamuko was clearly surprised by this, even though Minato looked completely unfazed. He looked ready to fight, in fact.

"I don't have time to explain. We have to get out of here, now!"

"O-Okay, Yukari-chan!" Hamuko nodded, suddenly as nervous as Yukari. Another rumble shook the entire dorm.

"Hurry, downstairs! We'll leave through the back door!" Yukari shouted over the sound of the dorm shaking. Then, Yukari pulled out a naginata from behind her. "(_…Where'd she keep that thing?_)" Hamuko couldn't help but wonder to herself. "Take this, just in case." Hamuko accepted the weapon and held it awkwardly. She didn't feel right, using a weapon like that. "…Okay, let's go!"

Everyone ran out of Hamuko's room and down to the first floor of the dorm, and Yukari led them to the back door. "Alright, we should be safe he-" She was interrupted by a beeping sound coming from her walkie-talkie on her waist.

"√\__Takeba, do you read me?! Be careful, there's more than one enemy! The one we're fighting isn't the one Akihiko saw!_ √\_"

"W-What?!" Hamuko and Minato exchanged confused glances. Then, a loud bang was heard against the back door. "L-Let's pull back! T-To the roof, maybe!"

**Iwatodai Dorm Rooftop, 4/8, Dark Hour**

Yukari sighed in relief after shutting the fire escape closed and locking it. "I think we're okay for now… Huh?!" Especially loud rumbling noises shook the ground the three were standing on. They slowly and cautiously turned their bodies away from the door and towards the rest of the roof.

What seemed to be a massive black hand to them grabbed onto the side of the roof, followed by several others. A hand holding a large and creepy blue mask popped up from the bottom of their view, and it seemed to look around the rooftop. It noticed Yukari, Minato and Hamuko, and as if on cue, pulled out gigantic swords that gleamed in the eerie green moonlight. Then, it climbed up completely and the mass of black matter began to approach the group quickly. Yukari barely managed to utter a few words. "Those monsters… We call them _shadows_!" She pulled out her gun and placed it to her head.

"Y-Yukari-chan! What are you doing?!" Hamuko asked, already shocked by the current turn of events. She wasn't going to get good sleep anytime soon.

"I-I can summon mine. No p-problem…" Yukari attempted to pull the trigger, but the shadow unleashed a powerful fire attack and knocked the gun away from her grip and knocked her to the ground. The gun skidded across the roof and stopped on Hamuko's foot. She stared at it intently.

Minato noticed the monster preparing another attack, this time aimed towards Hamuko. Jumping heroically, he jumped in front of the unaware auburn girl and took the full force of the fire attack, flying backwards into a wall. "M-Minato!" Hamuko shouted, forgoing the honorifics because of the situation. Minato barely managed to get himself up and utter a few words.

"H-Hamuko…" Suddenly, the entire world went white and standing in front of Hamuko was the prison-garbed boy she saw a few nights ago. Minato was standing in the same place, but somehow completely healthy-looking. He walked to the side of the prison-garbed boy, and the two made a finger gun and pointed it to the side of their heads.

"_Can you do it_?" They both asked at the same time. Then, they both fired the finger guns, telling Hamuko what to do. The white background faded and Hamuko was faced with the same horrifying scene again. Minato was back at his original spot, barely staying conscious. "D-Do it… Please, Hamuko…"

Minato's plead made Hamuko's heart melt and she nodded without hesitation. She had a reason to do it now. "(_To protect everyone here… Yukari-chan, Mitsuru-senpai and even Ikutsuki-san… And Minato…_)" Now with a new resolve, she placed her left hand on her chest, and raised the gun to her temple. She slowly spoke, "Per…So…Na!" The sound of glass breaking and shattering came at the same time she pulled the trigger. Blue shards flew from the other side of her head, and a magical-looking creature emerged from behind her.

_Thou art I, and I am thou… From the sea of thy soul, I cometh…_ A lovely feminine voice spoke. The creature had a mechanical body and head with long brown hair. Its red eyes, white-colored face and massive, heart-shaped golden harp made it look beautiful, yet intimidating and imposing. Its mechanical body was painted gold and platinum.

_I am Orpheus… Master of- _All of a sudden, Hamuko felt a splitting pain in her head and Orpheus crumpled in pain. At the same time, what seemed to be a black and shadowy-looking skeleton was torn away from Minato's body and he collapsed to his knees once again. The black skeleton was sucked into Orpheus.

Then, a demon emerged from Orpheus and tore it apart. It was a huge, sword-wielding beast that had a frightening dinosaur-looking mask, a black robe and a cape made of coffins. The monster charged at the shadow and slashed its mask in half with a clean slash, and proceeded to tear apart the rest of the being.

The demon let out a victorious cry before transforming back into Orpheus and leaving behind a black skeleton which returned to Minato. As soon as it returned to his body, he was able to stand up again, and run over to Hamuko, who was now unconscious and lying on the ground. A few, smaller shadows were approaching and Hamuko would die without someone to protect her as well. Yukari was cowering in a corner, too.

Tightening the grip on his sword, Minato leaped forward and impaled one of the shadows in the mask. Turning around, he placed a vicious stomp on a shadow behind him and kicked it away, obliterating it as it flew in the air. And, to finish it off, he picked up the gun Hamuko used and placed it to his own head. "**Orpheus**!" A being similar to Hamuko's Orpheus emerged from Minato, except it was coloured silver and blue, its hair was silver, and its face was black as the night itself. The harp on its back was normally shaped and silver. "**Maragidyne**!" Minato commanded at the top of his lungs. His Orpheus strummed its harp and the remaining few shadows violently exploded and didn't even leave behind ashes to ever show for their existence.

Afterwards, Orpheus faded away and returned to Minato, who placed his hands back in his pockets as if nothing happened. "So… What do we do about Hamuko, Yukari-chan?" Minato asked. Yukari was still stunned at what she had just witnessed. Minato sighed.

* * *

**Velvet Room, ?/?, ?-?-?**

Hamuko slowly cracked her eyes open and found herself in the Velvet Room. She was greeted by the three residents of the room. However, Minato wasn't there.

"It's so nice to see you again. You became unconscious after awakening to your power." Igor explained. Hamuko still wore a puzzled face. "…It's nothing to worry about, though. So, just _relax_." Somehow, Hamuko felt herself calming down despite the overall creepy atmosphere she was in.

"By the way… I see that it was **Orpheus** who heeded your calling. That power is called a _Persona_… It is a manifestation of your psyche."

"My… psyche? I don't understand," Hamuko replied, genuinely confused. Igor simply responded, "It… may take some time to fully comprehend. A Persona is a facet of your personality that surfaces as you react to external stimuli." Igor continued, knowing that most people wouldn't understand a thing he had just said. "You can think of it as a mask that protects you as you as you brave many hardships. That being said, your power is still weak…"

Hamuko raised an eyebrow. "Weak? Whaddya mean _weak_? Did you see how I tore that shadow thing to-"

"_That_, I'm afraid, was not your _own _power at work there. But with the vast potential within you, you may come to possess that kind of strength eventually. When you use your Persona, you channel that inner strength you would need to, say, 'tear shadow things to pieces,' am I correct, Master Hamuko?" Hamuko sealed her lips shut by now. "The ability develops as you develop your _Social Links_-your emotional ties with others. The stronger your Social Links, the more powerful your Persona ability. Please… Remember that." Hamuko nodded.

Igor glanced upwards, as if checking a clock that was behind Hamuko. "Now, then… Time marches on in your world. I shouldn't keep you here any longer. Next time we meet, you shall come here of your own accord. Until then… Farewell." And Hamuko's vision faded into darkness.

* * *

**Tatsumi Memorial Hospital, 4/17, After School **

Yukari heard some stirring coming from the bed she was sat beside. Hamuko was finally awake. Minato was sat beside Yukari. "You're awake…! Umm… How do you feel?"

"Where am I…?" Hamuko mumbled sleepily. Yukari ignored her question.

Yukari sighed in relief. "Thank goodness, you're awake! Minato-kun and I have been visiting you every day!" Her face turned to one of annoyance. "But how much sleep do you need?! It's been a whole week! I don't even think Minato-kun here could sleep that much at once even if he tried!" She jabbed a thumb at Minato, who simply shrugged.

"I never tried to, two much would go on without me."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. You sleep so much in class I _doubt _you'd know what's going on anyway." She turned back to Hamuko, who was beginning to straighten herself up. Minato stepped over and helped her out, which made her blush slightly.

"…But, we were really worried about you… You were one of the people who saved my life, ya know. It's not like I could just leave you here." Yukari mentioned gratefully. "The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with you. He said you were just exhausted… But, of course, you just kept sleeping and sleeping… Do you know how worried we were?" She scolded.

"H-Hey! How could I help it?!" Hamuko defended herself. But Yukari waved it off, as if it wasn't a big deal after all.

She turned to face the other two students properly. "Um… I'm sorry I couldn't do anything… Even though I was supposed to protect you two, I…" She looked towards her lap, shamefully. Hamuko felt bad. Even Minato's neutral face softened somewhat. "But your powers… They were amazing!"

"Yeah, but… What'd I do? I summoned Orpheus and then I remember my head… Hurting a lot." Hamuko painfully recalled that experience. It was like the worst migraine she had, except ten times as worse. It felt like her head would explode any second.

"That power you used… We call it 'Persona.' And those creatures you defeated are Shadows-our enemy." Minato cringed and frowned slightly at this. Hamuko noticed this, and frowned as well, but turned her attention back to Yukari. "We'll explain _everything _later. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before…"

"No worries, Yukari-chan. I'm sure you had your reasons." Hamuko reassured. Yukari seemed to perk up from this. But her face quickly became a nervous frown. "I, uh… I wanted to tell you two that…"

"What is it, Yukari-chan?" Hamuko asked.

"Well, that I'm sorta like you two."

"Hm? What do you mean?"

Yukari started, "My dad died in an accident when I was little… And my mom and I aren't exactly on good terms… You two are all alone, right?" Both persons in question nodded sadly. "To be honest, I already know about you guys' past. But, it didn't seem fair, so I wanted you two to know about mine…"

"It was back in '99… There was a big explosion in the area. Supposedly, my dad died in the blast, but nobody knows what really happened… He was working in a lab run by the Kirijo Group. So, I'm hoping that if I stick around long enough, I'll find something." She turned to Minato, and gave him a friendly slap on the back.

"I mean, I already found _this _guy, and he was _raised _by the Kirijo Group, even! I don't know how that managed to happen, but all that matters are his connections!" Yukari mentioned happily. "But, that's why I'm going to Gekkoukan High, and why I was there when this happened to you. Of course, I panicked and wasn't much help… It was my first time fighting them, too." She turned to Minato _again. _"But, you fought them like a pro! You had no trouble defeating them at all, and it didn't look like your first time, either. I've been meaning to ask you why that is!"

"Maybe some other time." Minato nodded. Yukari sighed, frustrated that she didn't get any more answers.

"…Alright, I'm gonna get going. I'll let the others know you woke up. Take it easy, okay? Be a good patient!" Yukari walked through the sliding door of the hospital room. Now Hamuko and Minato were in the room, alone.

"So… Um…" Hamuko said, breaking the silence that Minato was enjoying. But he looked at her, giving her his full attention. Hamuko could feel her face getting red by the minute.

"…?" Minato tilted his head.

"…Yukari mentioned how you fought those shadows really easily. How is that? And what's _your _Persona?" Hamuko asked curiously.

"Well, you know how I was taken in by the Kirijo Group, right?" Hamuko nodded. "I don't remember what happened exactly, but I was taken to a lab run by the Kirijo Group after I was found at some accident during the Dark Hour. They found I had potential as a Persona-user, and I grew up there, honing my fighting abilities. I even got to meet some higher-ups, because I had become so well-known throughout the company." Minato explained thoroughly.

"I see. But what Persona did you use?" Hamuko asked again, now reaching for a glass of water.

"Orpheus." Hamuko did a spit-take all over Minato.

"…Sorry. Anyway, that's _my _Persona! How can we have the _same _one?! We're two different people, aren't we?"

"I…Don't think I can answer that question, Hamuko-chan. Besides, I rather not be dripping wet with all this water on me." She was reminded of that again.

"Oh…Right, sorry about that. I just got a little surprised, that's all…" Hamuko looked away, embarrassed.

Minato, for the first time in what could have been a long time, smiled and answered, "Don't worry about it, Hamuko," Forgoing the honorific. The girl began to blush again. "And, I'm sure this year will be enjoyable with you around."

Hamuko nodded happily. "Definitely!"

Suddenly, a cracking sound was heard in Minato's and Hamuko's head. Both froze.

_Thou has established a new bond…_

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the World Arcana… _A voice that sounded almost like Minato's and Hamuko's voice mixed together spoke in both of their heads. Both shared a warm smile and looked at each other.

"…Right!" Minato put down his school bag and pulled out a substantial amount of homework out. He tossed it onto Hamuko's lap. "_That, _is all the work you missed while you were dozing off. Due tomorrow morning, at the beginning of class. Better get to work, Hamuko!" Hamuko could only whine and sob to herself. She looked over to the window.

"(_Personas… Shadows… Too much I don't understand right now. I hope I get a _gooood _explanation when I get back._)" She turned back to the pile of paper.

"Alright, time to get cracking."

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Ugh, if you plan to write fanfiction, or _anything _for that matter, expect to take A LOT of time doing so. Writing takes a long time to get your ideas down, and even LONGER to perfect it. Not to intimidate you inspired readers or anything, but... :P Seriously, though, it's not all that bad once you get started. I wouldn't be enduring the many trials of writing if I wasn't enjoying it!**

**On another note, I GOT A REVIEW! Time to respond!**

**GeneralGeneric: First of all, I want to thank you for taking the initiative and helping out a wannabe writer like me! Any help (especially from you, I hope you review again) is appreciated, and you just happened to review both of my chapters up to this point! I took your pointers and put them to work when writing this chapter, and hopefully it satisfies! **

**If any of you notice something about the story that seems to be wrong, or a part of the chapter that could have been written better, please tell me. Writing without pointers is almost like driving a car blind; you don't know where you're going with this. **

**And last of all, I PROMISE you, the loooooong and boring introduction sequence will be over next chapter, when they _finally _head to Tartarus. I planned to do that in this chapter, but I underestimated the amount of content between the end of Chapter two and beginning of Chapter four. So, with that being said... See you all for the next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Chapter 4 is up! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't claim to enjoy writing this "Disclaimer" crap all the time. ...Also, Atlus and Persona aren't mine.**

* * *

**Iwatodai Dorm 4****th**** Floor, 4/18, Evening**

"Ah, there you are." Ikutsuki greeted the auburn-haired girl as she entered the room with Yukari. Everyone else was already seated. "I'm glad that you're okay. I asked you here because I- rather, _we _need to talk to you." He explained.

"Uh, alright then!" Hamuko replied uncomfortably. All eyes were on her, expectant, reassuring and unreadable.

"Please, have a seat." Hamuko obliged.

"Oh, before that. I believe I mentioned him before, but this is Akihiko. He's the other student that lives here." Ikutsuki motioned his hand to the silver-haired teen, who was smiling proudly.

"Nice to meet you! We couldn't properly introduce ourselves so… My name is Arisato Hamuko!" Extending her arm, Akihiko accepted it. "Sanada Akihiko. Good to meet you, too."

After they finished introductions, Ikutsuki began, "Okay, let me start off by asking this. Would you believe me if I said that a day consists of more than 24 hours?" Much to everyone's surprise, Hamuko _wasn't _surprised.

"Well, yeah. The time when everything becomes all green and people turn into coffins? And when all water turns to blood?" She freely spoke, shocking everyone slightly. But of course, Minato wasn't affected in the slightest. He sat there, expression unchanging as usual.

"You're already aware of the Dark Hour?" Mitsuru asked incredulously.

Hamuko nodded without hesitation. "If that's what you guys call it, then yes. I've been experiencing this for… 10 years now." She mentioned, holding up both of her hands, indicating ten.

"Wow…" Akihiko whispered. Ikutsuki smiled creepily.

"10 years is quite a while to go through. I suppose we don't need to explain anything to you. Mitsuru, if you will." He gestured to Mitsuru, who nodded and pulled out a silver briefcase, and opened it. A red armband lettering 'S.E.E.S' and a silver gun were inside.

"We are the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad; SEES for short. On paper, we are a school group. But in reality, this group is dedicated to defeating the shadows. Mitsuru is the leader. I'm the club advisor." Ikutsuki explained.

"In short, we want you to join us, Arisato-chan. We've prepared an Evoker and armband for you. Will you lend us your strength?" However, Hamuko looked hesitant. Did she really want to get involved in this? "(_Maybe this isn't such a good idea…_)"

Hamuko shook her head. Everyone else looked down in disappointment. "But what could we do to persuade you to join us?" Mitsuru asked, as a last ditch effort to get her to join. Clearly, they were desperate for new members.

"If this changes your mind, Hamuko-chan, _I've _already joined." Minato chimed in. Somehow, he expected this to work on her, considering how she had treated him with their time together.

"I'll do it." Hamuko answered without hesitation. Again, everyone looked surprised, and then gave Minato grateful looks. He shrugged.

"Whew, I'm glad you accepted after all. Welcome aboard!" Yukari exclaimed.

"Thank you so much! Now, about your room assignment… Why don't you stay here, in your current room? I don't know what the hold-up is, but I guess it worked out in the end!" Ikutsuki spoke, as if trying to hide something. Minato chuckled to himself when he noticed this.

"Hold-up? But wasn't that-" Yukari began.

"Ahem." Mitsuru got her message across and Yukari stopped talking.

Minato and Hamuko heard a cracking sound in their heads, and froze.

_Thou has established a new bond…_

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Fool Arcana…_

The two glanced at each other, and exchanged smiles.

* * *

**Hamuko's Room, 4/18, Dark Hour**

Hamuko groggily got up from her bed in response to the knocking she heard on her door. It was Minato, who also looked less than happy to be there. "What are you doing here, Minato-kun…?"

"Because of him." Minato pointed behind Hamuko, who promptly turned around. A familiar, prison-garbed boy was standing beside her bed. Seeing this, Hamuko jumped back. Inconveniently for Minato, straight into him and slammed both into the hallway wall. He wasn't too happy about being used as a cushion. Hamuko noticed this and got off him, apologizing profusely but being careful not to wake up the other residents of the dorm.

Dusting off their clothes and walking back into the room, they turned to the mysterious boy. "Hi, how are you two?" He chuckled.

"W-Who are you?" Hamuko stuttered.

"…A name. I don't have a name." That served to creep her out even more. But the boy ignored that and continued talking. "Soon, the end will come. I remembered, so I thought I should tell you two."

"…" Minato stared impassively.

"End? What do you mean?"

"The end… of everything." The child paused for dramatic effect. Minato had an amused and satisfied smirk that Hamuko couldn't see, but the boy certainly could. "But, to be honest, I don't really know what it is." He turned to face Hamuko.

"Oh, I see you've awakened to your power, and an unusual power it is." He pointed to Minato. "But he possesses the same power, and yet it is much greater than yours. I wonder why that is?" He tilted his head, with a smile that would be cute, except for the fact that said child was like a ghost.

"A power that takes many forms yet is bound by none… It may prove to be your salvation, depending on where you end up. Although, I don't doubt that it will be…" He added cryptically. And then he teleported, causing Hamuko to be scared even more.

"Do you remember when we first met? I expect you to honor your commitment. I'll be watching you, even if you forget about me. Well, except when _he's _not around." The young inmate jabbed a thumb towards Minato, who was swaying back and forth, trying his best not to fall asleep. "Okay then, see you later." He faded away into the shadows. Hamuko sighed in relief. And then she turned to Minato.

"Get out of my room."

"…H-Hungh? W-What?"

"I said, get out! Or do you want me to sic Mitsuru-senpai on you?!" Hamuko actually didn't know very much about her, but heard some rumors about her infamy regarding her 'executions.' Apparently that was true, when Minato quickly ushered himself out of the room.

Hamuko wasn't aware of what happened once Minato reached his own room on the 2nd floor of the dorm. Minato shut the door to his room, and the boy materialized again. "When are you going to tell them?" He asked.

"I'm not sure. I would've expected Mitsuru-senpai to know, but…" Minato trailed off sadly.

"Don't worry. You'll know to tell them when the time is right. I believe in you." He reassured. Minato smiled.

"Haha… Thanks, Pharos. Hamuko might think you're creepy, but you're a good person to have around."

"Of course. We're of the same kind, are we not?" Pharos responded.

"Yeah, I guess so." Then, Minato realized something. "Say, how are you fully materialized when Hamuko's not around? I thought she had the other half of you."

Pharos sat down on the side of Minato's bed and thought for a few moments. "I'm not sure. Perhaps your half of Death is attracting the other half to you, like how stars nearby each other try to pull each other towards them. You are the larger star, pulling the smaller one towards you…"

"…Hm. I get it. But wouldn't that mean…" Minato trailed off, thinking about something. He seemed to show more expression when he was alone than with people.

Pharos giggled. "I'll leave that to your imagination. Good night!" And with that, he faded away. The green sky slowly disappeared, and everything changed back to normal. Minato yawned after seeing the end of the Dark Hour.

"Wow, that late already? Alright, bedtime." He flopped onto his bed and fell asleep instantly.

* * *

**Iwatodai Dorm 1****st**** Floor, 4/19, Evening**

Everyone was gathered in the first floor lounge for what would be the biggest shock of their lives yet. "There's someone I want you guys to meet," Akihiko gathered everyone's attention. He opened the door for someone they would never have expected to join.

"Heheheh! Wazzup'?" Junpei greeted, in his school attire. He dragged along a large luggage bag and his purple backpack.

"J-Junpei?! …Why is _he _here?!" Yukari couldn't help but ask. Hamuko was equally shocked, Akihiko had an amused look on his face, and Minato hardly looked dazed, as per usual. "Wait, don't tell me…"

"Looks like you guys already know each other, but just for formalities…" Akihiko trailed off. "This is Iori Junpei, from Class 2-F. He'll be staying here as of today."

"_He's _staying _here_?! You've gotta be kidding me!" Yukari exclaimed.

"R-Relax, Yukari! He can't be _that _bad to have around! I mean, you two have known each other for a while, right?" Hamuko's attempt at calming Yukari was shot down by Junpei.

"Heheh, don't worry, Yuka-tan! You're gonna have an even _greater _time with me on the team now! Right, Minato-kun?" He slapped the blue-head on the back. He flinched, but nodded anyway, playing along. This made Yukari groan loudly and obnoxiously.

"Anyway, I bumped into him the other night. As you guys suspected, he has the potential, but only awakened to it recently. I told him about us, and he agreed to help." Their senpai explained. Yukari had her mouth wide open like a goldfish, and Hamuko had a hard time stifling her laughter at seeing her like that.

"He found me cryin' like a baby at the convenience store surrounded by a bunch of coffins. I don't remember much, but… man, that's embarrassing! He said that's… y'know, completely normal in the beginning," Junpei continued on. "Like, bein' all confused and not remembering anything. Did you guys know that?"

"Didn't happen to me," Hamuko pointed out, watching Junpei's face for a good reaction. She got a good one. "But apparently Minato-kun here's been at it for a while now, huh?"

"**Huh, really?!**"

"**Wait, wha-**"

"Uh, okay, bu-"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Minato spoke up, ending everyone else's shocked reactions. "Yes, I've been at it for about… 10 years now."

"_**Ten **_**years?! No way!**"

"**What?! Are you serious-**"

"Whoa, sound like a lo-"

"Yes, yes, you heard me right. Ten years, and I was taken in by the Kirijo Group because I had the potential when they found me." Minato explained quickly, careful not to ignite more gasps and surprises. Hamuko stood by, silently enjoying the scene before her. "Mitsuru-senpai should already know about this, considering she organized for me to be transferred here. Don't know why she hasn't told you guys yet."

"Wait, Minato-kun. What do you mean by 'taken in'? And by the Kirijo Group, no less?" Yukari asked, confused. Minato let out a sigh, already sick of all the attention he was getting.

"Taken in is correct, Yukari-chan. I was found, unconscious on the Moonlight Bridge 10 years ago, by Kirijo scientists. They brought me in, tested me for the potential, and I came out positive. They trained me up, and now I'm here. Happy?" He concluded, at a last ditch effort to move everyone's eyes off of him.

"Wow, dude, sounds nuts…" The baseball-capped student thought out loud. Then he felt several pairs of eyes on him. "(_Leave it to Junpei to break the tension. You had better thank him later, Minato-kun._)"

"…But man, I was shocked to find out about you guys. I had _no _idea! Though, I'm glad I'm not the only one. Could get kinda lonely, ya know? I bet you're stoked, too! Havin' me join…"

"Huh? U-Uh, y-yeah, course we are… Lousy baseball cap-wearing loser…" Yukari mumbled under her breath.

Hamuko giggled instead. "Glad to have aboard, Junpei-kun!"

"Heheh, thanks Hamu-tan! Thankful for at least _one _person to be welcoming, unlike Yuka-tan here!" Said person responded with a glare.

"Well, enough with the introductions, guys. I think we're about ready…" Akihiko started.

"Ooh, we're gonna go do somethin'?" Sweetness!" Junpei exclaimed. The other members simply groaned and rolled their eyes.

"With this many people, we can start exploring _that _place." Akihiko stated gravely, sending shudders down everyone's spine.

"You don't mean… Tartarus?"

"…Tartarus? What's that?" Junpei asked cluelessly. "Sounds like toothpaste."

Akihiko answered both his question and comment. "We believe we can find the reason for the Dark Hour there. And it's not toothpaste, either, Iori. The chairman will give us the details tomorrow night, so be ready."

* * *

**Classroom 2-F, 4/20, Lunchtime**

Yukari and Junpei both yawned, outstretching their arms as they sat at their desks. "I thought I was gonna fall asleep in there…" Yukari said, in a bored tone.

"You're tellin' me, Yuka-tan!" Junpei agreed.

Just then, an imposing red-headed individual walked into the room. "Can I have a minute?" She asked. Everyone couldn't help but nod under the crushing authority that seemed to surround Mitsuru. "Come to the lounge on the 4th floor when you get back to the dorm. I have something to tell everyone." Yukari suddenly looked away, slightly irked at what she said. Nobody noticed, fortunately for her.

"What for, senpai?" A perky voice that belonged to Hamuko asked.

"I'll save the details for later. See you there." She strode off confidently and exited the room. There was a very noticeable drop in tension as Mitsuru left the room, when students began to talk again.

"Wow, she didn't waste any time leaving. Although, good thing she did; looked like everybody here's scared shitless of Mitsuru-senpai! Hahaha!" Junpei casually spoke.

"Well, she's probably busy with things like _Student Council_, unlike _us_." Yukari said with a bit of an edge in her voice.

"Whoa, Yuka-tan! Do I sense some hostility?" Junpei teased.

"Well, it's not that I don't like her, she's just…" Yukari trailed off, clearly not wanting to continue.

"Don't worry, Yukari-chan! I'm sure you have your reasons!" Yukari cheered up slightly after this. "But we, as friends, have to make sure you get along!" Hamuko put her fist on her chest, like she had a duty to make them friends.

**Iwatodai Dorm 4****th**** Floor, 4/20, Evening**

"Okay, everybody's here." Ikutsuki said when everyone walked through the double doors into the command room. "I'd like your undivided attention. For a long time, Mitsuru and Akihiko were the only Persona-users we had. But that number recently jumped to six." The chairman continued. "Therefore… Starting tonight at 12:00 AM, I'd like to commence the exploration of Tartarus."

"Sorry… I asked this yesterday, but what's this Tartarus thing again? I mean, I'm sure it's a big deal and I definitely know it isn't toothpaste, but…"

Yukari chuckled at seeing Junpei's ignorance to the topic. "You haven't seen it, Junpei?"

"Hm…?" Junpei tilted his head in confusion.

"It's no surprise you haven't seen it, Junpei." Ikutsuki reassured. "Since it only appears during the Dark Hour."

"The Dark Hour…?" Hamuko and Junpei said simultaneously.

"Just like the shadows… Interesting, huh?" Akihiko said, as an attempt to fire up the group. Mitsuru stopped him with an icy glare, and he shrank back into his seat. "A-And, it's the perfect place for us to train. You can think of it as the… Shadows' nest. N-Not that we should just treat it as a place to train, h-heh." Akihiko quickly added when he felt his body dropping in temperature.

"Whoa… Their nest, huh? Sounds pretty exciting, I'll admit!"

"But senpai… What about your injury?" Yukari asked worriedly to Akihiko. Before he could say anything to defend himself, Mitsuru cut in.

"Since Akihiko hasn't recovered yet, he'll only come as far as the entrance."

"…Yeah, I know." He replied sadly and disappointed.

"I'm sure he won't complain if you don't go too far in. Since we're dealing with shadows, Tartarus isn't something we can avoid." Ikutsuki pointed out.

Junpei rose from his seat and made a gesture with his arm. "Relax; I've got your backs!"

Yukari suddenly felt unsure about Tartarus. "I'm not so sure about this… I mean, we have _Junpei _for back-up! Doesn't that sound like a recipe for disaster?!" She argued.

"H-Hey… That's not cool, Yuka-tan…" He sat back down in his seat.

"What about you, Mr. Chairman?" Mitsuru asked him.

"I'll stay here," He replied. "As you know, I can't summon a Persona…"

* * *

**Gekkoukan High School, 4/20, Near Midnight**

"This is it? _This _is the place?!" Junpei asked. All the other new members of SEES were equally confused. "Why here?"

"Just wait a few minutes…" Akihiko responded. "It's almost midnight." He whipped out his hone and everyone leaned in to check. 11:59.

…

…

…

12:00. As expected by the seniors, the world changed to its sickly green and eerie side and all aspects of the normal comforting world gave in to the Dark Hour. But the junior members turned to their school, and what they saw was truly frightening and amazing. The building suddenly rose up from the ground with a great rumbling sound and continued to build up with other parts of buildings hidden underneath. It wasn't even structured properly; it defied the very laws of physics and would look terrific to an artist or architect. Not that any artist or architect could see it; a massive and grotesque tower that reached to the skies, made even more ominous with the green lighting of the Dark Hour.

"This is Tartarus; the labyrinth that reveals itself during the Dark Hour," Mitsuru began. Akihiko looked just about ready to pounce in there and start tearing apart whatever monsters lurked inside.

"L-Labyrinth?! What're you talking about?! What the _hell_ happened to our school?!" Junpei exclaimed. Hamuko and Minato both snorted at the subtle pun Junpei made about Tartarus.

"Is… there something _amusing _about this, Arisato-kun and Arisato-chan?" Mitsuru scolded. Both students immediately shut up. Mitsuru turned back to the tower. "Once the Dark Hour passes, everything returns to normal."

Junpei still looked stunned. "This… is the nest you were talking about? B-But why?! Why did our school turn into a giant tower?!"

"…"

"…You don't know either, huh, Mitsuru-senpai?" Yukari said.

"…No."

"Well, I'm sure it's complicated senpai." Hamuko tried to comfort her senior, but to no avail. She had a look of guilt and pain written on her face. "…"

"Well, maybe now we'll find out. Mitsuru and I have only gone in to take a peek; this'll be our first time exploring. Exciting, isn't it?" Akihiko motioned his head towards the tower. "There has to be _some _clue in here about the Dark Hour."

"Akihiko. I respect your enthusiasm, but you won't be accompanying us today."

"I know… you don't have to remind me."

The inside of Tartarus was equally as breath-taking as the outside, as graciously pointed out by Junpei. A large clockwork-style clock with a stairway leading up to it was centered in the lobby of Tartarus. A fancy-looking bike was parked at the bottom of the stairs, and a glowing grandfather clock was off to the side. "This is only the entrance," Mitsuru began. "The labyrinth lies beyond the doorway at the top of the stairs."

"First, we'll have you four get a feel for this place. Why don't you go have a look around?" Akihiko offered.

Yukari was thoroughly shocked and scared by his offer. "J-Just us?!"

"We're not asking you to go very far… and I'll be feeding you information from here." Mitsuru answered.

"Uhh… Okay, then." Yukari nodded her head, albeit unsurely.

"Good. We're also going to appoint a leader to make any necessary decisions." Junpei jumped at this chance.

"F-For real? …One of us? Oh! Oh! Me me me! Pick, _me_!"

"Ehh…" Akihiko turned to Hamuko. "You're in charge."

"Huh? Why me, though? What about Minato-kun, isn't he better suited?"

"That may be so; however, he's already an expert fighter." Mitsuru explained. "You three need battle experience, and you're better off gaining it without relying on Arisato-kun." Minato turned to the three novices and nodded.

"Then why not me?! She's a girl- no offense, but shouldn't I be the leader here?" Junpei began to get riled up.

"But, she _has _fought them before, and you heard why Minato-kun isn't leader." Yukari reminded Junpei.

"S-Seriously?"

"That's true, but there's another reason. Can you two summon your Persona without any difficulty, like the Arisatos can?" Akihiko asked the novices.

"Y-Yeah, of course I can!"

"I think so…"

Akihiko simply shook his head, and pulled out his Evoker and placed to his head. "These are shadows were talking about; without your Persona, you're screwed." That straightened out the two almost instantly.

A cracking sound was heard inside of Minato's and Hamuko's heads, except there was no social link involved. Instead, a blue and purple door appeared off to the left. Both of them approached the door, which was locked, and used their Velvet Keys together to open the door.

They were greeted by the familiar scene of a big, purple elevator and the three residents. "I've been waiting for you two," Igor said. "The time has come for you to wield your power!"

"Persona…" Hamuko mumbled.

"The tower you are about to venture into… How did it come to be? For what purpose does it exist? …Regrettably, you are not yet capable of answering these questions."

"…I see." Minato had his lips pursed by the time Hamuko registered him talking.

"This is why you must be made aware of the nature of your power. Your powers are unique... They are like the number zero... Empty, but full of infinite possibilities." Igor stated cryptically. "You two are able to possess multiple Personas, and summon them as needed. However, you, my boy…" Minato stepped forward, and Igor closed his eyes briefly. "I see that you already possess immense power… However, you have not fully realized its potential. You may grow to become _even _stronger than you could imagine possible."

"But… multiple Personas? I don't understand," Hamuko voiced out.

"When you have defeated your enemies, you will see the faces of possibility before you. There may be times when they are difficult to grasp, but do notfear. Seize what you have earned!" Igor explained in his usual cryptic way of speaking. Hamuko felt her question was far from answered. "Your power will grow accordingly… Be sure to keep that in mind." He checked the 'time' again. "My spare time will soon be scarce. But, please, come again of your own accord. I'll tell you then about my _true _role; the manner in which I can best assist you. Until then… farewell."

Hamuko and Minato were brought back into reality when Junpei tapped them on the shoulders. "You two okay? You look like a pair of zombies…"

"…Really, Junpei? Zombies?" Hamuko rolled her eyes.

"Huh? Of all the things you could have chosen to dwell over…"

"Hey, you guys! Are you ready to head into Tartarus?" Akihiko called over.

"Yes, coming!" Yukari responded.

The group entered the first hallway of Tartarus, unsure and nervous. Hamuko especially, since she was in charge of leading the group, but Minato stood back with his hands in his pockets, completely relaxed. "So, this is it, huh?" Junpei asked, holding his two-handed katana like a baseball bat.

"Alright, here we go!" Hamuko exclaimed with less enthusiasm than normal.

"I hope I don't get lost…"

"√\__Can you all hear me?_ √\_" Mitsuru's voice echoed through the dark halls of Tartarus.

"Whoa! Is that you, senpai?" Junpei looked quite surprised and impressed.

"√\__I'll be providing audio back-up from here on out. I'd like to join you, but the structure of Tartarus changes from day to day. That's why outside support is imperative._ √\_"

"Ugh, well _that_ makes me feel a whole lot better…" Yukari said in a clearly sarcastic tone.

"√\__Now, based on your current position, you can expect to encounter enemies any minute. They shouldn't be too tough, but proceed with caution regardless._ √\_"

"Right, senpai!"

"Okay!"

"Got it."

"√\__Excellent. Let's begin. Keep in mind these are real battles you're going to be engaging in. See if you can eliminate all the shadows on this floor._ √\_" The leader nodded nervously.

"Okay, guys, let's go!" A black mass was up ahead, crawling around aimlessly.

"Who wants to make the first strike?" Minato asked.

"Oh, oh! Me, dude! I'll do it!" Junpei's excited voice made the shadow turn around, and Hamuko had to jab it with her naginata instead. The black mass split into two smaller shadows that had blue masks.

"√\__That's a Cowardly Maya! Arisato, your Persona can use a spell to exploit its weakness!_√\_"

"Got it, senpai!" She put her Evoker to her head, placing her other hand on her chest. "Orpheus! Agi!" The beautiful being strummed her harp and one of the Mayas burst into flames. "Go for it, Junpei-kun!"

"Right! P-Persona! Hermes!" Junpei hesitantly placed the Evoker to his skull and pulled the trigger. A being wearing a winged helmet and donning golden wings emerged from Junpei. Everyone had to admit; it looked impressive. "Cleave!" Junpei commanded. On cue, the messenger of the gods charged at the other shadow, wings spread and slashed it in half with one of its wings.

"√\__Excellent. There should be more shadows still on this floor. Stay alert._ √\_" The group ran down the hallway, and spotted another shadow, but this one was particularly large.

"This time, Junpei; don't mess up." Minato said firmly, but in a hushed voice.

"G-Got it!" As quietly as possible, the baseball fan crept up to the still unaware shadow. Unluckily for him, he decided to let out a battle cry as soon as he raised his sword and the shadow turned around, smashing him in the stomach. Minato facepalmed.

Five Cowardly Mayas sprung from each other and charged the group in a not-so-cowardly fashion. Junpei managed to get back up in time and summon Hermes to slice them apart. Hamuko was busying stabbing the shadows, and Yukari finally got a chance to kill some shadows. After all five were dead, Hamuko's vision suddenly blurred. "(_Eh? What's happening? I see… cards? Is this what Igor meant?_)" Three cards were in front of her, one that showed a red sword, one that had what seemed to be a plant on it, and one that Hamuko knew to be the Persona Pixie. When they started to spin around, she grabbed Pixie, and her vision cleared up again.

"√\__Excellent work. Hm… Strange, I don't detect any more shadows on this floor. Usually there are more on the prowl. Regardless, you should head back to the entrance._√\_" Suddenly, the sound of rattling chains was heard nearby. "√\__Hm? What's the matter? Is there- Oh my…_√\_" Mitsuru was silenced as soon as she detected whatever was making that sound. "√\__You have to get out of there, now! Before it's too late! Find an Access Point! Quickly!_√\_"

"Uh oh…" Minato muttered. "Guys, we need to move. Find an Access Point; it's a glowing green device, you'll know it when you see it. Hurry! Or it might be-" A loud bang resonated through the halls. A gunshot. A horrifying being turned the corner and confronted the cowering group of shadow hunters. It wore a bloody trench coat and floated on the air, lazily holding onto two long-barreled revolvers. Even the shadows that had just appeared on this floor fled in fear. "**Run!**"

All the members of SEES began to run as quickly as they could, speeding up every time they felt the gunshots coming closer and closer. "Eek!" Hamuko was nicked by a bullet on her leg and fell to the ground, unable to move.

"Shit!" Minato cursed out loud. He ran over in front of Hamuko protectively and withdrew his Evoker. "Persona!" The male Orpheus appeared behind Minato. "Vicious Strike!" The legendary harpist raised his harp and smashed the monster. It barely flinched, and raised his revolver, shooting the harpist in the chest. The Persona disappeared, and Minato fell to the ground, clutching his chest. Hamuko watched in deep worry and concern. Minato still found the strength to summon his Persona again. "Ugh… Orpheus!" The being emerged for a second time, but looked static and blurry. "Maragidyne! Blast its ugly face to smolders!" The Persona obliged, and summoned a massive burst of flames in front of its head. It didn't affect it in the slightest, but it provided the distraction for Minato to pick the injured Hamuko up bridal-style and flee.

"Yo! We found the Access Point! Yuka-tan's already on the other side!" Junpei called from down a hallway. Both of the members were thankful for this and Minato quickly ran down the hallway, avoiding the gunfire, and stepped onto the Access Point.

The two arrived in the lobby of Tartarus, exhausted and injured from the experience. Hamuko began to blush as soon as she realized she was being carried, in a very romantic way. But the person carrying her set her down, and Minato sat down tiredly.

"Is everyone alright?" Mitsuru asked, concerned. "I never expected it to appear so soon…"

"Yeah. That thing you ran into; it's called the **Reaper**." Akihiko explained with his back on the wall. "I'm actually pretty surprised you made it out of there alive."

"I agree. If Arisato-kun hadn't been there with you, you could have died." Everyone looked to Minato with looks of gratitude, but he waved them off, too tired to respond. Another gunshot alerted everyone in the lobby, but it was Yukari, summoning her Persona.

"Io…" She muttered. The Persona that looked like a bullhead with a girl chained to it cast a healing spell on Hamuko. The scar on her leg began to slowly disappear, eventually vanishing completely as if it was never there to begin with.

"I suppose we should call it a night; that experience must have been exhausting." Mitsuru said.

"You're tellin' me, senpai. We almost _died _in there! You _bet _I'm tired!" Junpei responded with a little too much energy.

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Fool Arcana… _

Everyone got up and left, except for Minato and Hamuko.

"H-Hey, Minato-kun?" Hamuko stuttered while blushing slightly.

"Hm?"

"I, uh, still can't move." Minato could easily tell she was lying about that. "S-So I was wondering… could you carry me home?" She said quickly, secretly hoping he would say yes. He raised an eyebrow, very well knowing that she was perfectly capable of walking herself. But he obliged and walked out of Tartarus, carrying her in the same manner as before. He felt her arms wrap around his neck and her snuggling into his grip. Soon, he heard quiet breathing over his shoulder. She had fallen asleep.

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the World Arcana…_

"Heheh, you guys look good as a couple!" Junpei teased, with his sword slung over his shoulder.

"Shut up, Junpei." Minato responded without hesitation or stuttering. Luckily, Hamuko didn't hear that last comment.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Longest chapter yet! And if it counts for anything, I'm pretty happy about how this chapter turned out! _Maybe _a little heavy on dialogue taken from the game, but you'll get something more original next chapter, I promise! Oh, and I got some more reviews in between chapter 3 and 4! **

**Althenra: Thanks for the review, as always! Glad to know I haven't screwed up yet! And your perception of plot is impressive; it might be spoilerific, but you're on the right track for what I had in mind! Either that, or I'm terrible at foreshadowing. **

**Gerson: Don't worry, I don't plan on stopping any time soon! Next chapter is when we FINALLY start to get into the meat of the game, like normal social links and stuff.**

**Now that all that's said...**

******See you all for the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Jeez, this took longer than it should have. Sorry for the later-than-usual update; I've been busy with school recently (which means I've been procrastinating, yaaay). I think the main reason I put it off was because I knew it would entail more work than the other chapters I've written so far and I got lazy. :/ But it's done now, so I can go and waste even _more _time, yaaay.**

**Disclaimer: I didn't almost spell 'disclaimer' wrong there. Something else I try not to spell incorrectly either, is 'Persona' and 'Atlus', neither of which I own, by the way.**

* * *

**Auditorium, 4/21, Early Morning**

"…And that concludes the main portion of today's assembly." The student on-stage spoke with cheeriness and confidence. "Next, we'll hear a word from the Student Council. Please welcome the new President, Mitsuru Kirijo, from Class 3-D."

Junpei snickered beside Minato. "Hehe, 3D…"

Yukari ignored her friend's snickering. "So, she did get elected. Well, I guess she _is _the most popular girl in school."

"You can say that again! There's like some kinda… aura around her!" Junpei said.

"But didn't the Kirijo Group build this school?" Hamuko pointed out. Everyone around her nodded in response. "Senpai _is _a Kirijo, so doesn't it make sense she would get elected?"

"Hey, but doesn't Minato have connections to the Kirijo Group, too? I mean, you _were _raised by those guys!" Junpei asked. "So wouldn't he have a better chance at becoming president?"

"Hmm… I don't think a transfer student would be elected for president on their first year here, although…" Hamuko adopted a thinking pose. "President Minato-kun _does _have a nice ring to it!" She giggled while poking Minato's cheek.

"Ahem." Mitsuru's cough was amplified by the microphone, and everyone's attention snapped to the front of the auditorium. "As I begin my term as Student Council President, I'd like to share with you my vision for this coming year." She recited like it was nothing to her at all. Glancing over the Student Body, she continued, "It is my firm belief that each of us must accept the responsibility of bettering our school. However, change cannot occur without sustained effort and an unprecedented level of commitment."

Students new to the school had their mouths gaping open at her speech; others looking up in admiration. For the members of SEES, it was a mix of both, with some slight jealousy from Yukari as well.

"That is why we must restructure our daily lives to accommodate this lofty goal. I'd like each of you to dig deep into your well of motivation, and re-evaluate your convictions… To imagine a bold new future without losing sight of the realities around you." The president asked. Previous unimpressed and jealous faces in the crowd eventually gave in and made way for admiration too.

"_That _is the key. I am certain that many of you have your own visions for the future… For us to reap the full benefits of our education your participation, ideas and enthusiasm are _essential_." She gave one last glance to the audience. "Thank you." And with that, she walked off the stage, thundering applause following her.

"Dang…" Junpei breathed. "That was freaking amazing!" He shouted, unafraid of getting in trouble since everyone was making noise anyway. "So… Do you guys have any idea of what she said?"

"Nope!" Came Hamuko's cheery response.

"Not a clue." Yukari answered honestly.

"…" Minato was snoring silently. Junpei was dumbstruck.

"D-Dude! Did ya seriously just sleep through that?!" Junpei exclaimed. The blue-haired individual woke up promptly. "You're such a rebel..."

Sighing, he finally replied to Junpei's initial question. "Well, Junpei, I believe she was trying to say that she'll make this year the best school year for us yet. But, in order for us to do that, we have to co-operate and pull our weight in order to make sure this happens. Of course, as she stated, we need the right motivation to do so, and I think that speech ought to do the trick for most of the people in this room, including you, Junpei. Happy?" Minato spoke barely stopping for breath. He wasn't panting after that, either. Now everyone, even the other students around the group were awestruck.

"Are you sure you shouldn't be president, Minato-kun?" Hamuko asked. Said person sunk back into his chair and fell asleep again.

* * *

**Hagakure, 4/21, After School**

Junpei had invited Minato and Hamuko out for ramen, much to their approval, especially Hamuko's.

"**I'll take 20 specials, please!**" Hamuko stood up out of her seat before being sat down by Junpei.

"No, no, no! I only agreed to treat _one _bowl of ramen, _one_! If you're gonna eat more, then I'm not gonna pay for ya!" Junpei threatened. Hamuko just shrugged and turned to Minato.

"How 'bout you, Minato-kun? Wanna treat a lady out?" She asked sweetly.

"No." Was his blunt and frankly painful answer.

"Eh? Why not?" Minato had already received his bowl and dug in, ignoring her question. Hamuko turned forward again and got her food; the staggering twenty bowls she ordered and couldn't afford.

"Man, isn't it good ramen, guys? You can never get sick of it even when you eat it often." Junpei commented over his bowl. "But, hey… I heard you were out in the hospital for a while, Hamu-tan. You seem pretty full of energy, but I'm worried for you, ya know?" Hamuko nodded as she was facing down to her bowl and slurping noodles. She had might as well enjoy it while she could.

"You don't really seem like the kind of guy to worry about people like that, Junpei." Minato joked.

"H-Hey!" Hamuko giggled.

"It's okay if you don't look that way as long as you actually do it! And thanks for the concern, Junpei-kun!" She said with a smile. Junpei turned away awkwardly, blushing.

"H-Heheh! You know me, I'm a sucker for caring about my friends!" Junpei chuckled. "But you guys seem to be pretty okay, transferring to a new school. Personally, I had a lot of problems when I transferred here. Bad marks, nobody really treated me well… Y'know, that kinda stuff."

"I know that feeling, Junpei-kun. I always worry about getting good marks, but anyone who tries to mess with me…" Hamuko made a fist and clasped it in her other hand. "I _crush _'em!" Hamuko swore she heard Minato mutter 'scary…'

"Whoa-ho! Glad you don't have trouble with bullies, Hamu-tan!" Junpei exclaimed. "Sounds like you two won't have to worry about anything tough this year! Didn't need to worry about it after all! Haha!" He laughed in relief.

_Thou has established a new bond…_

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Magician Arcana… _

"(_Another social link? This time with Junpei, of all people! This oughto be fun…_)" Hamuko thought to herself, excited for what's to come.

"Well, we should get going." Junpei stood up out of his seat, now finished with his bowl.

"Yeah, let's go." Minato agreed, and stood up as well. Hamuko's happy expression turned to a slightly panicked one.

"H-Hey, guys! I can't pay for all this food, ya know! Hey! Guys! …Guys?"

* * *

**Gekkoukan High School, 4/23, After School**

"Hey, where are you going?" Hamuko caught up to Minato walking through the halls of Gekkoukan. A tree was off to the side of the hallway, and look like it commemorated something, or someone.

"I'm joining a sports club. They're available today." He answered.

"They are? Oh, yeah, that's right, they are!" She said, remembering what she heard from gossipers that morning. "What teams are there?"

"Swimming, Track or Kendo for guys, and Tennis or Volleyball for girls."

"Tennis? Hmm… What do you plan to join, Minato-kun?"

"Probably Track. You?"

"I always enjoyed tennis…" She trailed off as the two entered the practice building. A corridor of doors led to places where different teams practiced.

"Alright, I'm gonna go now. See ya, Hamuko…?" He tilted his head. Hamuko was staring at Minato, with a seemingly dreamy look in her eyes. "Hamuko." She jolted back into reality.

"H-Huh? Yes?" She stuttered.

"You were staring again." Her face became crimson in an instant, and she gasped slightly.

"Oops! U-Uh, t-that was just your imagination, haha! Um… OkayseeyouIhavetogojoinaclubandstuffbye!" She quickly said and turned to the door to the tennis court and left. "(_Wow, he has really breathtaking eyes, doesn't he…_)"

"…Okay." Minato turned to the door that led to the track and left as well.

Hamuko ran out to the tennis court, where a glamorous-looking teacher and other tennis members were practicing. The teacher noticed Hamuko and walked towards her. "Hi, are you Arisato Hamuko? My name is Ms. Kanou; I'm the club advisor. Although, I don't really know what I'm supposed to do here anyway." She giggled, not caring at all. "Oh well. Be nice to each other, I have some other things to do." Hamuko noticed everyone glaring at Ms. Kanou when she walked away.

A keen-looking student walked up to Hamuko instead. She had long black hair tied up in a ponytail and looked quite fit compared to the other members. "Sorry about that. Ms. Kanou's kind of useless as a club advisor, so _I'm _the one in charge here. My name is Iwasaki Rio."

"Arisato Hamuko! Nice to meet you!" She nodded.

"Alright, we were just about to start practice. This club meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and we don't practice a few days before exams. Got that?"

"Yeah," Hamuko nodded in confirmation. "Thanks, Rio-san!"

"We're concentrating on basic exercises today, so come and join. Just keep up as much as you can." All the other members groaned loudly as soon as Rio uttered the words 'basic exercises' and began to complain.

"Hey! Why is everyone complaining? The fundamentals are important, you guys should know that by now! _Right_, Hamuko-san?" Rio gave a slightly threatening look to Hamuko that said 'play along or else' and Hamuko complied.

"Yeah, they are." Rio smiled and gave a smug grin to the rest of the team, who rolled their eyes in return.

"Good, you seem promising. Glad to have you on the team!" She extended her hand.

"Likewise!"

_Thou has established a new bond…_

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Chariot Arcana…_

Minato was walking out of the school when he noticed a shy-looking girl wearing glasses. Driven by an urge to develop social links, he walked towards the girl and tried to strike p a conversation. "Hi." He greeted casually.

"…H-Huh? Oh, umm… H-Hello?" She stuttered almost uncontrollably.

"What are you doing here?" The girl was taken aback by the question and looked surprised, but remained silent.

"…Another time, then." Minato began to walk away, but the girl stopped him.

"W-Wait!" He flipped around. "U-Um, I'm sorry for not answering you earlier. I-I'm still here because of Student Council activities. A-And I'm not used to speaking to m-males, so…"

Minato smirked. "I'm male, aren't I?"

The girl was surprised by how calming his voice was to her. "Huh? W-Well, yes, I suppose so… I-I'm trying to overcome my fear of males…"

"Want some help with that?" Minato offered, and extended his hand. "I'm Arisato Minato."

"F-Fushimi Chihiro. I-It's a pleasure to meet you, Arisato-san."

He nodded. "See you later." Then, he walked away from Chihiro, who was busy rejoicing and celebrating in what would be a huge step to overcoming her fear.

On the way outside, Minato spotted another girl, this time by the lockers. She had tan skin and was in charge of the Track Team. Her name was Nishiwaki Yuko, and the two walked together to a café, where they chatted for some time. "(_I am on a roll today._)" Minato thought, while he was chatting with Yuko over Pheromone Coffee.

"It's tough being a team manager… You don't get any respect. The guys on the team all act like little kids, saying: 'Where's my towel?' or 'Can you wash this for me?'" Yuko explained tiredly.

Minato chuckled. "Don't worry, you have my respect. You must be tired with that, after all." Yuko brightened up considerable from this.

"Thanks, Minato-kun! I'm glad you can understand! And you're enjoying Track Team, right?" Minato nodded. "That's good! I thought it would be boring for you, since you're so much better than the rest of the team. Even Kaz; that's Kazushi, he was like: 'Man, that dude's cheating, Yuko! We should kick him off the team, or might never become captain!' But he just jealous; you probably just have some kind of special training regimen, right?"

"You have no idea…" Minato muttered, just loud enough for Yuko to hear.

"Haha, that bad, huh? Well, if you have any questions, just ask Kaz or me!" Minato nodded.

_Thou has established a new bond…_

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Strength Arcana…_

Yuko checked her watch. "Well, I'd better get going. See you sometime later, Minato-kun?"

"Definitely. Bye." Yuko stood up and walked away, and soon enough, another girl replaced her spot as Minato's 'date'.

"Hi Minato-kun!" Hamuko greeted. Minato waved as she walked up to his table and sat down in the seat opposite him. "How was Track Team?"

"Good. You?"

"Tiring, but fun." She responded with an exhausted sigh. "So what're you doing here?" She asked.

"Yuko and I were just talking over some coffee. That's all." Hamuko felt a tinge of jealously rise from inside of her, but she buried that feeling quickly.

"That's good. So… Why don't you and I just talk?" She asked while ordering a beverage of her own.

"Sure." Minato agreed. The two chatted until it got dark, and began to walk back to the dorm.

"Brr…" Hamuko shivered, and rubbed her arms for warmth. "Kinda cold tonight, isn't it?"

"Maybe a little." The other person showed no signs of shivering or even discomfort at the temperature. A cold wind blew into them and he didn't even wince.

"H-Hey, M-Minato-k-k-kun." Hamuko was shivering. "H-How a-are you n-not cold-d-d?" He shrugged.

"Guess I'm used to it, that's all. You seem to be pretty cold, though."

"N-No k-kidding! W-W-What g-gave that a-away?" Her teeth were clattering. "H-Hey, m-maybe you c-could lend m-me y-your j-jacket… Y-You don't n-need it, b-but I d-do. B-Besides, isn't i-it ch-chivalrous t-to g-give a g-girl a j-jacket, ha-haha?" She joked. She didn't expect Minato to sigh and actually do it, however. She didn't know if she stopped shivering because of the jacket, or because of how much she was blushing.

Either way, she was warmer and the two chatted as they walked home under the eerily waxing moon that was close to becoming full…

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'm not entirely sure about how I'm going to do the social links in this fic. Do you like how I'm writing it, or do you feel I could write it differently? Personally, I want to hurry up and get past these social link chapters so I can put some of my other ideas into action (most of which are like, really far into the story). Trust me, I feel they're awesome, and I'm hoping anyone else reading this will think the same. Anyways, reviews!**

**Gerson: Looks like the chapter was well-received after all! And I'm definitely going to keep going (if school doesn't screw me over first, that is)!**

**Silgain: Might be a little early, but I threw in the Reaper to make things more interesting. Originally, I had planned to just have a bunch of shadows and have the rookies get overwhelmed and have Minato help them out, but that's easy for him. There's more suspense and excitement when even a super-strong guy like him still struggles against a greater enemy. Also, I understand where you're coming from with the Reaper scaring off newer players, but I'd assume people reading Persona fanfiction already know about the Reaper and what it's like in the game. Seriously, have you seen _how freaking long _it takes for that thing to appear in the first place?**

**titan. p. medusawitch : I'm sure they will be, that's mostly why I was inspired to begin writing this in the first place! And as for _when _it'll happen... I have it pretty well planned out. IF anything, it won't be as soon as you expect (:O spoilers) but in place of that, I'll include plenty of shipteasing. And a side order of stupid Ikutsuki jokes, too. In fact, here's one right now: "Wow, this story has plenty of fore_shadow_ing, huh?" ...Eh.**

**Alright, that's it for reviews this time! Hopefully the next chapter will be somewhat more interesting. ****Now that all that's said...**

**********See you all for the next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Aaaaand chapter 6 is a go! Just another social link chapter which I'll try to make as interesting as possible! You know, 'cause reading the entire damn game except in fanfiction form might be a little boring without some changes. You know, because that's what a fanfiction is. Anyway, just read the damn chapter! I'm neglecting school again. xD**

**Disclamier: I spelled 'disclaimer' correctly. But can I spell the sentence 'Persona and Atlus don't belong to me.' correctly? Let's see: ****Persona and Atlus don't belong to me.**

* * *

**Bookworms Used Books, 4/25, After School**

"…Hm? " An old man from behind a counter looked up. The old woman beside him did the same. "…Welcome to Bookworms. What would you like today?" The old man chuckled to himself. "We have fresh mackerel…!"

"…Sorry. As you can see, we don't sell fish here." The woman spoke up. Minato and Hamuko stood awkwardly in the store. They had heard of the bookstore's re-opening through gossip and decided to check it out after school.

"…Hey, you two are students, aren't you? Both from Gekkoukan High, too… That must mean…" The older man trailed off.

Hamuko tilted her head. "Mean what?"

The woman responded for him. "A persimmon tree. I'd assume you'd have seen it in your school."

"…Oh yeah, I _did _notice something like that!" Hamuko exclaimed. Then she had a look of confusion on her face. "…What about it?"

The old man's glare at her made her shrink back in shame. "Are you serious?! Not a day goes by without us thinking about that tree! You know, kids like you oughto-" The man was cut off by his wife.

"I'm sorry, he's rambling on like an old man. Just… Just ignore him."

"That's alright. That tree must be quite important to you two." Minato replied understandingly. Calming down the old man and putting a smile on the woman's face, the two students left the bookstore.

"Hey, do you think we should check out that tree?" The female student nudged Minato's arm.

He shrugged. "Sure."

**Bookworms Used Books, 4/25, After School**

The old man and woman looked up from the counter once again after noticing that they had customers. "…Welcome. How many guests? Smoking or non-smoking?"

"Actually…" Hamuko said happily. She pulled out a leaf from her bookbag. "Here!" The old couple's eyes widened.

"Is that…?" The woman whispered. The old man nodded.

"A leaf from the persimmon tree! You two, you didn't come here to buy books? You came just to show us this?" The old man asked.

"Of course!" Hamuko responded. Minato simply nodded.

The man brightened up considerably from this. "I knew it! I knew from the start that you two are a young and kind couple!"

Minato had the look of amusement on his face as he watched Hamuko became flustered and her face flushed. "H-Huh?! N-No, we're just friends! Nothing at _all _going between us, right Minato-kun?!" She added threateningly.

He chuckled in response. "Sure, sure. Nothingat all anyone should _know_ about." He winked at Hamuko, whose face drooped in embarrassment. At this point, the old man burst into laughter. Even the old woman had a hard time suppressing her laughter.

"I'll deal with you later, Minato." She hissed to him. All she got in return was a satisfied smirk.

After the _old _couple finally managed to control their giggles, the old man continued. "We've been meaning to see that tree for a while now. But I'm not sure these stumpy old legs will make it very far…" He chuckled when he realized the joke he made. "…That wasn't meant to be a pun. You know, 'stumpy', 'tree stump'? Catch my drift?"

"Very clever, dear." He coughed awkwardly.

"Anyway, allow me to introduce my wife Mitsuko. I'm Bunkichi. If you two don't mind, could you tell us your names?"

"Arisato Minato."

"Arisato Hamuko! Pleasure to meet you! We're not related, just so you know." Hamuko added.

"Arisato Minato and Arisato Hamuko? Well then, we'll call you two Minato-chan and Hamuko-chan from now on!" Bunkichi declared excitedly.

"Minato-chan and Hamuko-chan… You two _would _make a fine couple!" Mitsuko joined in on the teasing. Hamuko's embarrassed face made it all the more enjoyable.

_Thou has established a new bond…_

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Hierophant Arcana…_

* * *

**Classroom 2-F, 4/27, Lunchtime**

A familiar red-headed president entered the classroom. As expected by her, the other students had the look of either cowardice or admiration on their faces. Mitsuru walked up to the desks of Minato and Hamuko, who were busy packing their things up. "Excuse me…" The two students whipped their heads in Mitsuru's direction. "I'm sorry, but I need to talk to you two after school. I have a special request to make."

"What for?" Hamuko asked. Mitsuru shook her head.

"I apologize for being in a rush, but I don't feel comfortable asking anyone else." She explained. "I'll tell you more about it after school, okay? Au revoir." After saying the foreign 'good-bye', she left the classroom.

"A special request? What do you think it's for, Minato-kun?"

"…" Minato had fallen asleep.

"(…_When did he fall asleep?_)"Hamuko stared at Minato for a few moments and blushed slightly._ "_(_I wonder if I could…_)" She pulled out her seat and faced it towards his desk. Sitting down, she placed her head and arms beside his head and watched him until the lunch period ended.

Mitsuru strode into Classroom 2-F for the second time that day. The reactions weren't any different, except for the faces of Minato and Hamuko, the latter with a look of excitement and anxiety and the former with an unreadable expression as always. "I apologize for keeping you two waiting."

"That's fine, senpai!" Hamuko cheerfully said.

"To make a long story short, I would like you two to join Student Council." Mitsuru stated.

"…Sure." Minato agreed to it, surprising both of the females. Mitsuru was the first to snap out if it and repeated the question to Hamuko.

"Uh, why all of a sudden, though? Student Council is a big deal, isn't it…?" Hamuko trailed off.

"Well, it's not like you'd have to participate in every single activity. Simply come to the Student Council room when you have time. It would be helpful to have you two join Student Council. Especially you, Arisato-chan, with your skills as a leader." She explained briefly. "Being President can be very time-consuming. I'd like to have some reliable help when the need arises. I'm sure you understand my situation."

By then, Hamuko had already been thoroughly persuaded. "Count me in, Mitsuru-senpai! I'd love to help!"

Mitsuru smiled softly. "I'm glad. Thank you, you two. I've already made an appointment with the faculty advisor. Just head down to the Faculty Office and ask about Student Council." She began to walk away from their desks. "Oh and… Have fun with each other, you two." She added with a slight chuckle before leaving the classroom.

"…What's with everyone recently?!" Hamuko shouted with a red face. She turned to Minato. "You had better not be behind this, Minato-kun!"

Minato answered simply. "It's your fault."

"Wha- How is it _my _fault?!" She demanded.

"Simple. You let yourself be teased too easily, and you always seem to stick around me, don't you?" Her eyes widened in realization and even more blood rushed to her head. "But, you know… You _are _very pretty, Hamuko-chan." Minato admitted shamelessly. "Personally, I'd think we wouldn't make a bad coupl-"

*SLAP!*

"Humph!" Hamuko stormed off after silencing Minato, who didn't seem bothered by the slap. But if anything, he just looked even more amused. But he knew better; he made a mental note to beg for her forgiveness later.

**Student Council Room, 4/27, After School**

"Everyone, these are our new members; Arisato Minato and Arisato Hamuko." Mitsuru introduced to the rest of the Student Council. "They are not related, and should not be addressed or referred to as such."

"Minato-kun and Hamuko-chan, huh…" A strict and serious-looking member of the council repeated to himself. "I'm Odagiri Hidetoshi. I supervise the Disciplinary Council."

A shy girl, who Minato recognized as Chihiro, introduced herself as well. "I'm Fushimi Chihiro, the Treasurer. It's a pleasure to meet you two."

Hidetoshi turned to Chihiro, confused. "Aren't you uncomfortable around males, Fushimi-san?" Chihiro noticed this and looked down, embarrassed.

"W-Well, I guess he would be an exception. I met him before, and he's a nice person, who was easy to talk to." She turned back to the new members. "A-Anyways, I'm a sophomore, and I'm, um, still learning the ropes, so please be patient with me, Hamuko-chan and Minato-kun." They nodded.

Hidetoshi was sizing them up. "...You two must be quite talented if the President hand-picked you." He smirked, with an expectant look in his eyes. "I'm looking forward to what you'll bring to this school. Welcome aboard." He outstretched both of his hands, to which Minato and Hamuko shook.

_Thou has established a new bond…_

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Emperor Arcana…_

"Today, we'll just do introductions," Mitsuru explained. "It will be your jobs to help us, Arisato-kun and Arisato-chan. I, too, look forward to what you two will provide for our school." She agreed with Hidetoshi. "Thank you for joining us today. You two have my permission to enter the Student Council room whenever you need to."

* * *

Yukari caught up with Hamuko, who was walking out of the school alone. "Hamuko-chan! Are you headed home?" She asked, panting after running to catch up with her.

"Yeah, I was. But you're here now, so why don't we do something?"

"Hmm…" Yukari looked up and began to think for a moment. "Okay. Don't think I was doing anything today. Sure, let's go!"

**Chagall Café, 4/28, After School**

"…And you know how I said all those things to you after you woke up?" Yukari continued, ashamed. They were conversing over coffee, although it was mostly Yukari doing the talking and Hamuko doing the intently-listening. "Like, 'You're the same as me,' and 'you're alone' and a bunch of other stuff that concerned you…"

"I remember that…" Hamuko added sadly.

"I must have been making assumptions about you… Minato-kun, too." Yukari admitted. "I lost my dad, but in you and Minato-kun's case, you lost _both _your parents. And even if things might seem the same, people can react to them differently at the same time, too…" Hamuko nodded in understanding.

"But I ignored how you and Minato-kun might have felt and forced my opinions on you two. And for that, I'm sorry…" Yukari looked down. Hamuko could only pity the girl despite what she had just confessed.

"Don't worry, Yukari-chan, I'll forgive you! I mean, I'm sure I would have done the same if I were you, so…" Yukari breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whew, thank goodness! I've been worrying all this time that I might have said some unfair things to you guys that day! I'm glad you and Minato-kun are so forgiving!"

"I guess that's just how we are, huh?"

The brunette laughed. "Yeah, I guess so! But… I still do see something similar in between the three of us. You might not like it, since we're all missing our parents… And it's been difficult until now because I've never had anyone around who could understand what I went through before."

"Glad we could be here to comfort you! I think I felt the same way as you until I met you, Yukari-chan! So… thank you!" Hamuko said genuinely.

Yukari giggled. "Hey, that's what I wanted to say! But, yeah, when I heard about you and Minato-kun, I felt you two could help me from my situation. That's why I was so happy when you two joined SEES. And the fact that you're a part of the group of the group; leading it, no less makes me feel a _whole _lot better! So… thank _you_!" She raised her cup of coffee in the air. Hamuko raised her cup as well, and they toasted.

_Thou has established a new bond…_

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Lovers Arcana…_

* * *

**Minato's Room, 4/29, Daytime**

Minato had nothing to do since it was a holiday today. So instead of studying, or finding friends to hang out with, or even going to a job for work, he did what any other guy would do at a time like that; play an MMORPG. Pulling his drawer open, he grabbed the game disc for _Innocent Sin Online_ and inserted it into his laptop. The loud whirring sound of the computer confirmed that it was working.

After Minato had gone through all the necessary set-up for the game, he logged on.

"Spring, the year 20XX…" The game screen displayed. "You have one message. From: PHIL."

"Let's see what this is…" Minato muttered, clicking the mail icon that showed up on-screen.

"Reality is just a series of events and players acting out what they believe is real. When we accept that fact, our world becomes 'reality.' Reality is but a reflection of our thoughts and expectations. …But what if we were merely reflections in another's mirror?" The surprisingly deep message would confuse almost anyone reading it, except for Minato, who was skimming through it and hardly absorbing the information at all. "Are you prepared to look through that mirror to discover the truth?"

_**Inside Lunarvale Hospital…**_

"There are 1 player(s) in the area. A –REPORTER- approaches…" A girl in gray is on screen with Minato's own avatar.

"#~# _sup xD_ #~#" A small text bubble appeared over top the girl. "#~# _asl…? oh wait, r u a nub? u r, huh? _ _#~#" The other person's character walked around. "#~# _oh wow, u haven't even finished generating your char yet… o_O _#~#" Minato was busy trying to figure out how to type. This always happened with him in the past, whenever he had the chance to play video games.

"#~# _welcome to teh game! good thing i'm using my low level alt _#~#"

"#~# _i think its just u an me, this is kind of a dead MMO these days xD _#~#"

"Ah, yes! Figured it out!" Minato hastily began to compose a response. "#~# _It's not popular anymore?_ #~#"

"#~# _sry, i got kinda ooc there =o we r supposed to be our 'alternate selves' rite? uhhhh… yeah =/ _#~#"

The girl in gray continued with her chatting. "#~# _sooo… what r u gonna call ur char? we can meet up later _#~#"

"#~# _hm… hey, i got a good name for u =3 #~#"_

"_#~# What is it? _#~#" Minato typed.

"#~# _...how bout tatsuya? kyahahahaha! that's good, imo _#~#"

"#~# i'll change mine to maya, k? =D _have a little deja vu? :P_ #~#"

Minato smirked at the reference she made. Not many people would understand what it meant. "#~# _Heh, that's clever. _#~#"

"#~# _o rly? i'm impressed! i didn't think any people played that!_ #~#"

"#~# _well, if u see any jokers, be sure to rescu me, k? ^^y _#~#"

"#~# _ne way, i'm usually idling here on my days off.._ _#~#"

"#~# _so if ur bored maybe we can level together, it sux to be lonely =P _#~#"

_Thou has established a new bond…_

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Hermit Arcana…_

"#~# _sry, gtg =\ _#~#"

"#~# _remember, let's think positive! traesto! xD _#~#" Maya signed off. Minato looked out the window in his room. The sun was already beginning to set.

"Guess time really does fly when you play MMOs. Ah, Junpei, what have you gotten me into…"

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: As you can see, still quite a bit of dialogue taken from the game. I'll make sure to include some more original dialogue and scenes once our heroes stop initiating social links. But Maya's dialogue... Nobody, and I mean _nobody _can hope to emulate its awesomeness. Not anyone like me, at least, weho hasn't played an MMO for several months (and my habit of typing with good grammar everywhere still gets me). And poor Hamuko, getting teased by everyone, even the person she's paired with! It _almost _makes me want to write her differently. _Almost__. _Instead, let's reply to reviews!**

**Yoshikunitsu: Oh, you bet there'll be fluffy moments between the two, alright. Those two will get so much fluff together they can build a bed and- you get where I'm going with this. My god, games are good but introductions to them (especially Persona games, unfortunately) can be brutally boring and tedious. Still necessary. But it's been enjoyable so far, and it'll stay enjoyable for a long time to come! Thanks for the review!**

**Spisant: Wow, you really _are _an avid reader, huh? Even I have to admit I only just came when this fandom had like, what, 4.2k stories? And I'm glad my story is one that really stood out for you compared to the _other _three thousand you must have went through. And you don't need to tell me that I'm awesome; I already know that from the numerous people who have told me that, except when... they didn't. Damn.**

**Gerson: Your logic is simple yet painfully true. If you want something to be done, then you actually have to do something so it _gets _done, amirite? Regardless, glad you liked the chapter!**

**titan. p. medusawitch: Still updating! My fingers are getting sore. xD It feels really satisfying to finish a chapter and then upload it, though! Then, you can fool around for a few days and worry about your failing school marks instead!**

**Now, I wouldn't say this chapter was MUCH more interesting than the last, but it should sate you guys' thirst for a while longer! Writing whenever I can (or whenever I don't feel like working), still managing to update at least once a week! I'm sure that'll stop soon enough. :P And I seem to have a habit of uploading chapters relatively late at night (in my time zone, at least). Tell me if you care about my update time or if I can just post chapters whenever the hell I want!**

**Anyway, with all that said...**

**See you all for the next chapter!**


	7. Chapter 7

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: DONE! CHAPTER 7 is completed! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: ...Eh, sorry. Can' think of anything creative right now. Persona and Atlus are great, but they're not mine.**

* * *

**Velvet Room, 4/30, After School**

"We would like you to accept our requests." Theodore and Elizabeth spoke simultaneously.

"Well, what _kind _of requests?" Hamuko asked, confused at the lack of detail.

"Well, some of these requests may entail gathering specific items for us!" Theodore responded.

"Some may involve escorting us around your world!" Elizabeth exclaimed in an excited manner. Hamuko swore she could hear Minato mutter "Oh brother..." as she said that. Igor was sitting there with the same creepy stare on his face, although it was a little less creepy this time.

Igor chimed in. "If you complete the requests my assistants give you, they will be happy to provide you with rewards. Some of these rewards may prove useful in your journey." He explained. Hamuko and Minato were surprised at how he wasn't cryptic when he said that.

Theodore and Elizabeth began speaking in sync again. "We have some requests for you right now, in fact. Would you like to take them?"

* * *

**Tartarus (Thebel) 3F, 4/30, Dark Hour**

"Pixie!" Hamuko shouted as she summoned the winged humanoid to heal Junpei's wounds. He got a little roughed up after taking on a group of Mayas who went to town on Junpei.

"U-Ugh… Thanks, Hamu-tan…" He dusted his shirt as he got off the ground. Yukari was busy summoning Io to blow the Mayas away as everyone recuperated.

"Get up!" Minato ordered roughly. "Don't expect to survive in this god-forsaken place if you don't get off your ass!" Minato was busy shouting orders from a safe distance where shadows wouldn't see him and run off, terrified. Everyone else needed battle experience, and they couldn't have that if any shadows were scared shitless and weren't able to fight back.

Everyone quickly followed Minato's orders. They all tightened the grip on their weapons and charged in.

**Tartarus (Thebel) 5F, 4/30, Dark Hour**

"√\__Be careful, everyone. I detect an unusually strong presence on that floor. Proceed with caution._ √\_"

"Got it, senpai!" Came Hamuko's reply. "Okay, everyone! Let's be extra careful!" Groans came from Junpei and Yukari, who already felt even more tired out from their leader's peppiness and high energy compared to their fatigued states.

"Hey… What's that over there?" Minato pulled his right hand out of his pocket to point towards a peculiar object in front of them. An Access Point, except it looked more advanced; like the similar device in the lobby of Tartarus. Once Minato came to this realization (which took about 3 seconds), he approached the device and proceeded to place a hand on it.

"√\__Arisato-kun, what are you doing?! We don't even know what it-_√\_" Mitsuru's voice was cut off as Minato suddenly disappeared into the machine and reappeared in the lobby, freaking out both the junior members of SEES and Mitsuru. "That wasn't necessary, Arisato. I will deal with you later." She firmly stated. Minato simply gave an uncaring smile and stepped back into the teleporter. And on cue, everyone currently in Thebel calmed down.

"That seems to connect back to the lobby of Tartarus," Minato jabbed a thumb behind him. "I'd assume there are other devices just like this that we can travel in between. I suggest we head back there and prepare for that 'strong presence.'"

After heading back to the lobby to recover, they teleported back into Tartarus, where they found said source of the strong presence.

Three massive birds stood in between SEES and the staircase to the next floor. And it didn't look like they were there to greet them and wish them a safe trip through the tower. Instead, they took notice of the four and charged at them.

"Gah!" Junpei was busy dodging out of the way of their wing beats blasting the walls with powerful gusts of wind. Hamuko was facing the winds with no difficulty since she had Alp equipped. She charged the shadows, and delivered a severe wound to one of the Venus Eagles.

"√\__Takeba, they're weak to piercing attacks! You can exploit their weakness!_√\_"

"Got it, senpai!" Yukari readied her bow and nocked an arrow. "Easy…" She was standing away from the action and carefully aiming her bow at one of the Eagles. She let her arrow loose and it hit one of the Shadows right on its neck, causing it to fall to the ground, stunned. She quickly nocked two more arrows on her bow. "Now this is something I got in trouble for in the Archery Club when I tried this. Did you know that?" Yukari asked Minato, who was leaning on a wall with his hands in his pockets. She fired the two arrows and hit both Eagles with ease. "I accidently shot one of the arrows and hit a teacher on the butt. I got yelled at, but I felt good about it at the time, since it was Ekoda I hit." She chuckled, reminiscing.

Minato chuckled slightly as well. "You might want to be careful firing those arrows when those two are busy beating the crap out of those birds. Don't want the same thing to happen." He paused. "On second thought, only make sure _Hamuko_ doesn't get hit. Junpei totally deserves it." Yukari giggled in response.

"I'll see what I can do." She joked, before running into the cloud of dust rising from the all-out attack.

Eventually the eagles were able to shake Junpei and Hamuko off, Hamuko who was fighting an eagle Shadow-of-the-Colossus style and trying to stab the birds in a glowing weak spot and hanging onto them for dear life.

Yukari summoned Io to heal everyone's wounds, and they instantly perked up after being thrown into the walls and floor. Unfortunately, the birds began to use their wing beats to their advantage again, blowing Junpei around like a ragdoll and forcing the other two to the ground.

"You guys need help?" Minato shouted over the howling wind and Junpei's howls of pain.

"No…! Duh!" Junpei shouted back as he was repeatedly slammed into the walls. Soon Hamuko and Yukari gave in and were suffering the same fate as Junpei.

"Fine, I'll help out _just a little_. Hang on." Minato casually placed the Evoker to his skull and pulled the trigger. Orpheus emerged, except another Persona showed up as well. A beautiful woman with light blue skin appeared alongside Orpheus, and the two readied out their respective instruments. "Orpheus and Apsaras… Cadenza, if you will." Minato calmly requested. A beautiful tune echoed around the halls of Tartarus, and the members of SEES heard it, relaxing their nerves.

Their wounds were healed, and they felt much lighter than before. Junpei expressed his excitement by performing parkour stunts he wouldn't be capable of normally. "Heheh, yeah! This is sweet, Minato-dude!" He steadied himself after a wallflip. "I'm ready to kick some ass!"

"Wow, Minato-kun! What did you do?" Yukari asked, who was dashing around quickly and firing off a few arrows at the shadows.

"Something I like to call a 'fusion spell.' You need to have the ability to have multiple Personas, though." Minato explained. "Some Personas can be summoned together to create different effects. In this case, it was Cadenza; it heals your wounds and makes you faster."

Hamuko's eyes narrowed. "Wait, multiple Personas… Does that mean I might be able to do them, too?"

"I wouldn't doubt it. But now that you've gotten your help, you're on your own now." Everyone but Minato, who went back to dozing off, turned their attention to the Venus Eagles, who were finally off the ground from Yukari's arrows.

"Yukari-chan, fire off a few more arrows!" Hamuko ordered. "We can't have those things blowing us around again!"

"Got it!" As Yukari reached for an arrow, she noticed something was wrong. She ran out of them. "U-Uh… I ran out of them. What now?"

Hamuko cursed under her breath, but then she thought about it for a few moments. "Hmm… I got an idea!" She nodded in pride. "These guys are weak to piercing attacks, according to Mitsuru-senpai's scan. Junpei, you've been slashing with your katana, right?"

"Eh? O-Oh, yeah, I have. What about it?" Junpei stuttered.

"Try stabbing with it instead! Yukari-chan's out of arrows, and we need to keep knocking those guys d_ooown_!" Hamuko's voice grew as she dodged out of the way of one of the Eagles, apparently tired of waiting. She tried to stab at it as it flew by, and it careened into the wall. Junpei thrust with his katana at another bird, and it fell to the ground as well. And to knock down the final shadow, Hamuko tossed her naginata like a javelin and hit the bird square in the chest.

"It's time for an all-out attack!" Yukari declared. "Except… I don't have a weapon." She said sheepishly. She managed to react just in time as a long object whizzed past her, and embedded itself in the floor in front of her.

"It's a sword. Use it." Minato stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Yukari didn't complain though. She was just happy to get back into the carnage that was the Venus Eagles.

* * *

**Tatsumi Memorial Hospital, 5/1, After School**

Junpei, Yukari, Minato and Hamuko walked into Akihiko's supposed hospital room. Only, their silver-haired senpai wasn't in at the moment. "Umm… Is Akihiko-senpai…?" A rather intimidating teenager was sitting in a chair beside the bed. He wore a dark red trenchcoat and western-style shoes. To finish the look, a beanie that partially covered his eyes gave the impression that he wasn't someone you'd want to piss off.

"…" The teenager stayed dead silent, with an impassive look.

"(_Wow, this guy kind of reminds me of Minato-kun. Just a little less friendly-looking, that's all._)" Hamuko mused in her thoughts.

"…in this room? By any chance?" Junpei tried to smile, despite talking to someone that scary-looking.

Everyone heard the sound of a hospital door sliding open. "What are all of you guys doing here? I thought I only asked Iori…" Akihiko narrowed his eyes, suspicious.

"T-That's exactly it…" Junpei confirmed. "…only these guys decided to tag along!" He jabbed a thumb to the others, who merely shrugged.

"Well, we came to see you!" Yukari happily said.

"Yeah, senpai! Are you all healed up, now?" Hamuko asked.

"I'm just here for a check-up, that's all. And I seem to be healing up pretty well." He replied.

The intimidating teen stood up from his seat. "Is that it, Aki?"

"Yeah, thanks for waiting." He replied.

"Tch… I don't have time for this shit." And with that, the teen walked out of the room. Or tried to, at least. Junpei was in his path, and the beanie-wearing stranger gave him a threatening glare that he could have only learned from someone like Mitsuru.

"W-Who was that?" Junpei managed to stutter.

"A friend from school… Sort of." Akihiko added, gaining a number of confused looks. "You know how the number of Apathy Syndrome cases have been increasing?" Everyone snapped out of their confused states and nodded. "He knows a few people who are suffering from it, so I was asking him about it."

"O-Oh, okay. Guess that's pretty important, huh?" Junpei grinned sheepishly. "Oh, right!" He raised his index finger, remembering something. Junpei grabbed something crumpled and folded from his pocket and handed it to Akihiko. "Here's the class roster, senpai!"

Akihiko stared at it for a few seconds. "…You really could've taken care of it better. Thanks, though." Then, he began to move his left arm around, alerting everyone instantly.

"Whoa, senpai! Are you sure you should be moving your arm?" Yukari asked worriedly.

"Yukari-chan's right, Akihiko-senpai." Hamuko agreed. "You just recovered, after all!"

"It's nothing." The boxer still stopped, though, since it was freaking everyone out. Except Minato, of course. "I've wasted enough time already. I need to get back to training."

"Training? Don't be stupid, senpai. Everyone should know what their limits are; you especially." Minato spoke for the first time since they arrived at the hospital.

Minato's comment offended Akihiko. "What did you just say?" He angrily glared at Minato, a little venom in his voice.

"Unless you plan to get your ribs broken again, I'd advise you take it easy," Minato retorted, grinning. "Unless you plan on breaking more than just your ribs, then I'm not gonna stop you. You're not worth the trouble, anyway." Minato's harsh words made everyone gasp and Akihiko cringe.

Akihiko grunted and clenched his fist, but calmed down. "Humph! Not worth the trouble, eh? I'll show you I'm valuable to the team!" Surprisingly, he went from angered to excited and pumped. Minato smirked at what he'd accomplished with such ease. Everyone else relaxed once they realized what he was trying to do.

"You had better, senpai." Minato then resumed listening to music.

* * *

**Iwatodai Strip Mall, 5/2, After School**

Minato and Chihiro exited Bookworms, where they were browsing through the used books inside, Minato trying to ignore the old couple's (mostly Bunkichi's) teasing about having multiple girlfriends. Minato had no girlfriends, or at least not several. Minato could already guess who wanted him as a boyfriend; after all, it was painfully obvious. At least he wouldn't mind being with that girl. He found it cute when she gets embarrassed over being shown any kind of intimate affection, and it was fun to tease her.

"Sorry to subject you to this…" Chihiro apologized shyly and looked at her feet.

"Don't worry about it." Minato responded with a charming smile.

"I-If you say so… But, um… Thank you." She cheered up slightly and looked up to Minato's face.

"For what?"

"W-Well, for i-inviting me with you, and being so patient with me… I got distracted by the books, and i-it might have looked like I was ignoring you, Minato-san…" Chihiro looked down to her feet again. Even Minato was having his patience tested with how quiet and shy she was.

"Don't worry about it. I had fun." Chihiro nodded.

"Um… Do you like to read, Minato-san?"

"I do, although I didn't have much time to read. When I do, though, I read manga." Minato chuckled.

"I love manga, too. My bookshelf is full of, well, girls' manga." She giggled, already feeling at ease around Minato. "There was a collectors' edition of a manga series I enjoyed in particular." Chihiro explained. "It has three volumes in one, and a bunch of other content, but the thing is…"

Minato raised both of his hands level to his head. "I already know about it, Chihiro. I saw you eying it, and I had it reserved by the owners. You can save up for it without worrying about someone else purchasing it."

Chihiro was genuinely impressed and flattered. "W-Wow, thanks Minato-san! Nobody's ever gone that far for me before! After all, people find it boring to hang around with a nerd like me." She laughed nervously.

"I don't think you're boring to hang out with. I'd actually prefer hanging out with you rather than most other people." Minato mentioned.

His 'date' giggled. "I'm glad to hear that; I've been worrying about that all this time. You're a very easy person to be with, Minato-san." She said, completely calm. "A-And I'd like it if we could hang out some other time, too. Is that okay with you?"

Minato nodded. "Of course."

_Thou has established a new bond…_

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Justice Arcana…_

* * *

**Gekkoukan Tennis Court, 5/4, After School**

"C'mon, Rio-san! We're tired! We've been at this for hours! Can we take a break yet?!" A chorus of agreements and complaints are springing from the rest of the Tennis Team.

"Really, guys?! We were just getting started, and you pull this crap?!" Rio shouted in her coaching voice. "Get up! We're working on racquet handling, now! You guys hold them like a bunch of gorillas!" A series of groans came from the exhausted members.

Hamuko, who was also dead tired from being worked so hard, walked up to Rio. She felt even more tired from this than from her treks into Tartarus. "Hey, Rio-san… Don't you think you might be working them too hard? I mean, forcing them doesn't seem to be helping…"

Rio glared at Hamuko, but softened after a few moments. "It's just that these guys aren't willing to push themselves. All they'd rather do is check their phones all the time and talk to each other! No one here except us really cares about Tennis Team!" She raised her voice at the end and turned away from Hamuko, presumably to send a message to the Team. They rolled their eyes and began to pack their things. "Hey, you guys! Practice isn't over, you know! Ugh…"

She turned back to Hamuko. "Almost everyone here doesn't bother to put in the effort this team needs. No wonder they hate it; they aren't even bothering to enjoy it. Imagine if everyone _did _care. Then we'd go really far, and be a great Tennis Team! And with the sorry state of a team we have right now, that'll never happen." Rio sighed.

"Aw, don't think that! If you want, I can help you out with getting the team to work harder. You're not alone on this, Rio-chan!" Hamuko said happily, trying to support Rio.

A wide smile overtook the dejected frown on Rio's face, and she looked up, grateful. "Thank you, Hamuko-chan. I really appreciate it. Together, we'll _whip _this team into shape!"

"Haha, I bet we will!" Hamuko agreed.

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Chariot Arcana…_

"Alright, it looks like it's about time to leave anyway. See you later, Hamuko-chan!" Rio waved her hand as she walked away. Hamuko waved back.

On the way home from practice, Hamuko bumped into Yukari. "Oh, hey Hamuko-chan." Yukari greeted. "Come back from practice?"

"Yeah, I did," Hamuko replied, still panting. "How about you? Archery, was it?"

"Yup! Still getting sore fingers, but I'm used to it by now. Wanna stop by somewhere?" Yukari asked.

"Sure!"

**Rafflesia, 5/4, After School**

* * *

"Don't you feel happy whenever you go to a florist's? There are so many colours, all of them so pretty…" Yukari trailed off. "Imagine what it would be like to have a room just full of flowers…"

"Sounds expensive." Hamuko mused.

"Haha, it does, doesn't it? You'd have to work pretty hard to take care of all of them, too." Yukari laughed. "So, what's your favourite flower?"

"Mm… Roses." Hamuko responded.

"Roses? Wow, I'm impressed! They seem to have a more mature and adult woman feel to them than other flowers." Yukari said, still stunned at Hamuko's response.

"It's weird when you say that, because I think I'm anything _but _mature! I never used to get in trouble, before. I was always the quiet kid who kept to herself until…" Hamuko's face became sad.

Yukari frowned at this, but used the fact that they were at a florist's to cheer her up. "Hey, do you think these flowers would look good in my room?" Yukari brought a small bouquet of pink tulips in front of her auburn-haired classmate's face.

"I dunno, Yukari-chan. I've never seen your room, ya know." She replied, eyebrow raised.

"Hmm… Well, if I had to describe it, it would be…" Yukari scratched the back of her head, embarrassed. "Pink. Lots of pink."

"How much pink does a girl need in her life?!" Hamuko giggled. "But if that's the case, then it would look fine in your room, Yukari-chan."

"Haha, thanks!" Suddenly, a question popped up in Yukari's head, perfect for teasing Hamuko even more. "Hmm… Hey, Hamuko-chan?"

"Yes, Yukari-chan?" She lifted her head from one of the several bouquets on display.

"To be blunt…" Yukari was having a hard time suppressing her amused smirk, and kneeling down might not be the best position to laugh in. "What kind of flowers would you like to receive from Minato-kun?"

"…" Hamuko's eyes widened and her face started to blend in with the red flowers behind her, as expected by Yukari. She was on the verge of bursting into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

"**W-W-What?! W-Why would I think about receiving flowers f-from Minato-kun?!**" Hamuko stuttered, clearly flustered. "Why does nobody get it?! Minato-kun and I are just _friends_! _Friends!_"

Yukari finally gave in and burst into laughter. Hamuko could only glare, annoyed, at the pink-wearing teen. Once she finally calmed down and was able to breathe normally again, she asked again. "But really, what flowers would you want from him?"

"Y-Yukari!" However, she stopped her outburst and thought for a few moments. With a light blush dusting her cheeks, she answered, "M-Maybe an Acacia, o-or a Pink Camellia…" Yukari's smirk grew wider.

"Is that so?" Yukari questioned. "Alright, then. That's all I needed to know."

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Lovers Arcana…_

She stood up, and clapped her hands. "It's getting late, and we can't miss curfew."

Hamuko sighed. "Yeah, I guess so. Alright, let's go." Hamuko walked off. Luckily for Yukari, though, she didn't turn back to check and see if Yukari was following.

"Psst! Hey! She's gone now." Yukari hissed to behind a stack of flowers. Minato walked from behind the flowers.

"I'm impressed, Yukari-chan. You really pulled it off; you're a natural at acting, aren't you?" Minato complimented, to which Yukari smiled smugly. They both looked off in the direction Hamuko had walked away in.

"Heheh, people always said that about me. It helps with situations like these when you want to… confirm something, right Minato-kun?" Yukari asked slyly.

He nodded, with an equally large smirk. "Definitely. I wasn't aware Hamuko had so much knowledge about flowers, either. She surprised me, as well." Sighing, he turned to Yukari. "Well, you've got your gossip, but it'll be interesting around Hamuko-chan now that I know about this. You had better repay this favor, though. If Hamuko goes after either of us, I'm using you as bait." He joked. Yukari rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, sure." Minato smirked, like he was planning something.

"Great."

"**Heeeeey! Yukari-chan!**" Hamuko finally noticed Yukari's missing presence. Minato quickly disappeared behind another stack of flowers.

"Coming!" She ran towards Hamuko.

"(_The_ _Acacia and the Pink Camellia? You have good taste in flowers, Hamuko._)" Minato thought, as he emerged once again from behind the flowers. He ignored the weird look the worker was giving him. "(_Junpei was right. This year _is _going to be fun._)"

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: How'd you like my idea with the flowers there? The Acacia can symbolize concealed love, and the Pink Camellia symbolizes a longing for someone. Personally, I'm not familiar with flowers at all, so I looked up a list of their meanings online. :P**

** Basically, any clever ideas that are included in the story (I dunno if you guys will think this was clever though XD) are pretty much made up on the spot. I don't know if that's a bad thing or not, but just know that's how I'm getting through these chapters. The first months of the game are going to feel pretty cramped and slow, but hopefully it'll speed up later. It's just a matter of establishing all the social links first, then ranking them up later. Also, this is my plan for the social links: not all of them will have ten ranks, necessarily. This is to keep the story moving relatively quickly and so I can include more of my own original work without creating ten different scenes for each S. Link (y'know, cause that's a LOT of scenes, and not enough ideas). **

**Reviews!**

**Gerson: Simplicity... Ah, you never cease to amaze me. And the Persona games coming out soon? Definitely looking forward to them! Persona 5? HELL YES. Persona Q? Not a huge fan of the art style, but I've been looking forward to a Persona 3/4 crossover game for awhile now, and it's out on the 3DS, no less? I have a distinct lack of games for that system. Persona Dancing All Night? ...Eh, next. Persona 4: U, or Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold in its full name? Sure, why not? At first, it just looks like an 'extension' per say, to the original, but it looks pretty damn good! Especially with the addition of P3 characters, no less!**

**Silgain: I thought about your review for a while (a whole 12 words to ponder :D), and decided to 'skip' some of the social links if they turn out to be too similar to the in-game version. So, for that, I'll be skipping the Hermit Social Link, and instead it'll be referenced in different ways. Still might include a _few _scenes from the link, but overall you'll see it much less. **

**RomanceDagger: Thanks for your reviews, and glad you're enjoying my shipping-of-those-two-together so far! Look forward to more of it in the future!**

**A total of... 3 reviews this time (for the previous chapter)! You know what I could use? MORE CRITICAL REVIEWERS. Don't be afraid to point out flaws in my writing, and suggest things I could improve! You don't need to worry about being rude or anything, because anyone who can't stand criticism shouldn't do something like this anyway. So! One critical review so far, and I'm hoping to see some more (unless my writing is perfect already, though I really doubt that). I'm _pretty _sure that's all I need to say for now... Except! I designed another cover photo! ...in paint! Expect to see something different once we hit a milestone in this fanfiction! Also, I'm considering changing the cover photo for Christmas to something a little more appropriate for the holiday. Look forward to that too, I guess!**

**Anyway, with all that said...**

**See you all for the next chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Here's chapter 8 for you guys! As you may notice, the date for the second scene in this chapter takes place two days ago! That was a bit of poor planning on my part, but just keep that in mind when you read this chapter. That's all!**

**Disclaimer: You know why I don't own Persona or Atlus? Because if I did, I wouldn't be writing this fanfiction because they wouldn't even exist by this point.**

* * *

**?-?-?, ?/?, ?-?-?**

"…" The image of a small window comes into view. There are two scientists on the other side, looking inside.

"(_What is… this?_)"

"_What do you make of this, ~~~~~~-san?" _The skinny, timid-looking scientist asked the other scientist, who was less skinny and wore glasses as well as a different coat, to represent his superiority over the other scientists.

"_I… think it's a shadow looking back at us, _~~~~~~_-san. I didn't think it would be able to develop eyes in this holding tank." _The other scientist responded.

The first scientist grinned madly. "_Excellent. We are making great progress thanks to your efforts, ~~~~~~-san. It won't be much longer before we can put our plan into action!"_

The timid-looking scientist looked unnerved after hearing those words. "_You don't mean… _that _plan, do you? I-It could be dangerous! Think of the catastrophe, sir! Are you sure you want to-"_

"_Excuse me, ~~~~~~-san, but I wasn't aware you had the right to speak out against me." _His superior coughed. "_Yes, I mean _that _plan. Is there anything __**wrong **__with it? All I can see is a __**bright and shining **__future ahead of us if we succeed!" _He began to chuckle with a hint of insanity. The other scientist looked like he had had enough.

"_No! I won't allow you to do it!" _The skinnier of the two shouted, trying his best to look intimidating. Despite his best efforts, his superior began to cackle madly.

"_Hahaha! Why are you opposing me?!" _The man wore a sadistic grin._ "We will usher in the dawn of a new era and bring hope back to this pathetic world! You will see for yourself before your head explodes! Guards!" _On cue, a group of large and armed guards ran into the laboratory and attempted to apprehend the rebellious scientist.

"_Grr…" _The scientist made a lunge for a lever on the side of the holding tank.

"_No, what are you-_" The insane scientist was cut off as the holding tank exploded with black ichor and black clouds shot out of the laboratory. The view suddenly became an aerial view of Tatsumi Port Island, under complete pandemonium. The laboratory, which was right near the school, was filled with utter havoc, with people running around and screaming, while other people simply lay there, unmoving.

"(_Wha-! What's going on?! Why is all of this happening?!_)"

Those thoughts were silenced as another violent explosion shook the island itself and the image became more and more unclear.

"(_No… Wait, what's going on…? It's blacking… out…_)"

**Minato's Room, 5/2, Dark Hour**

Minato woke up after breaking out in a cold sweat.

"What was…" He slapped a hand on his face, panting.

"…Are you okay?" A younger voice asked. Minato turned to the source of the voice; the same prison-garbed boy as before that Minato was so familiar with.

"What the hell _was _that, Pharos?! I remember some scientists talking, and then some guy pulling a switch, and then… this horrifying scene. People were dying, the whole city was…" Minato mumbled, and then he clutched his head in pain. "Aggh! I don't get it!"

Pharos stood there silently, thinking. "I… suppose those might be some of my memories coming back to me. I'm bound to you, after all, and those dreams may be my memories returning."

"Memories…?"

"I think I recall something like that happening in the past, but I'm having some difficulty recalling it. But I remember it was something of great importance, and that I had a role to play in it." Pharos responded.

"One of the scientists was trying to prevent something, and the other was trying to cause something… If we had to choose which one we would side with, then who would it be…?" Minato trailed off, deeply confused from his dream. He glanced out the window in his room. "The moon…"

"It's becoming full… You'll have to face another one of _them_. They're important, but I'm not entirely as to why that is…" Pharos trailed off sadly.

"I see…"

"I don't know. I'm afraid that we might not know enough about this yet." Pharos adopted a comforting smile. "I think for now, you should get some rest. I'll see you later…" He faded away into the Dark Hour.

"See you too, Pharos…" Minato flopped back onto his pillow. "(_What _was _that about, anyway…?_)" He shut his eyes and fell victim to the clutches of sleep once again.

* * *

**Wild Duck Burger, 5/5, After School**

Junpei had invited out Hamuko and Minato to watch a movie, and to Wild Duck Burger after the movie.

"But seriously, though… The bad guy having a tragic past and all kinda ruined the movie for me." Junpei complained. "I mean, it's not really all that fun beating up a bad guy who didn't really want to be one in the first place."

"I can see what you mean, Junpei-kun." Hamuko replied, taking a sip from her massive soda that was beside her Peta-wac set.

"But yeah… That movie wasn't too bad. I got to watch it with my two best buds, right?" Junpei, who was sat beside Minato, slapped him on the back and gave Hamuko a shoulder pat from across the table. "You guys don't think anyone will say stuff about us when they see us together, right?"

"I wouldn't doubt it." Minato answered lazily. "Some people might get jealous."

Junpei perked up in remembrance. "Oh yeah! I remember that you two are actually pretty popular in school! A lot of guys and girls are interested in you two! Way to go!" He punched the two in the arm.

"O-Oh… Is that so…" The only female of the group looked down to her burgers sadly.

"Awhaha, don't look so sad, Hamu-tan! I mean, you've got me, who's lucky to get _anyone _to look my way! Besides, Yuka-tan and Mitsuru-senpai lve in the same dorm as us! A lot of guys really envy me 'cause of this." He cheered Hamuko up, wearing his signature grin.

"Can't be helped." Minato said simply.

"Heheh, yeah, you're right. I can understand how they feel, but let's enjoy the feeling while we can, hahaha! Nobody can be nice to dudes that have it that good!"

Minato chuckled. "We're pretty lucky, huh? All of the girls are cute, and we live in a co-ed dorm." Minato's honesty about the girls made Hamuko blush slightly.

"Oh really? How cute do you think I am?" Hamuko tried her hand at teasing Minato. After all, he was always teasing her, so it was due time she got some revenge.

Minato's smirk became even larger. "Very cute, Hamuko-chan. If I were being honest, I would prefer you over all the other girls in our dorm." Hamuko's smile faded and her blush intensified. Minato didn't look embarrassed or ashamed in the slightest.

"(_Failed..._)" Hamuko thought to herself, trying to distract herself by eating the rest of her meal.

"Damn, Minato! You're a real womanizer, aren't ya? You didn't even hafta try and Hamu-tan's already fallen for you! Awesome!" Junpei exclaimed while laughing.

The male in question shrugged and smiled at Hamuko. "Well, I try."

Junpei's expression became slightly more serious. "But you don't look like the kind of girl to have much time for that kinda thing. After all, we have school and_…_ Well, you know what I mean. And the same goes for me, too…"

"As for me… I've got better things to do." Minato mumbled as he plugged in his music player and dozed off.

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Magician Arcana…_

"Well, I'm done." Junpei stood up from his seat. "What about you Hamu-tan? Finished with yours?"

"Yep." Hamuko confirmed as she polished off the last of her burgers without trouble. All the bystanders stared in awe of her impressive feat.

Junpei jabbed a thumb to Minato and whispered to Hamuko. "_But why don't we leave ol' Minato-kun here? After all, he ditched you earlier when we went to Hagakure…"_

"_Didn't you leave me with the bill, too?" Hamuko whispered back, with a skeptical look. Then she paused and thought about it for a few moments. "…On second thought, good idea."_

The two walked out the restaurant and left Minato behind. Later that night, there were news reports of a male teenager breaking out of a restaurant from the inside. But he showed off the can of Mad Bull he pilfered while he was escaping. Mitsuru wasn't terribly happy about his actions.

Needless to say, it wasn't the most pleasant day for Minato.

* * *

**Naganaki Shrine, 5/6, After School**

"…And I'm hungry! Do you have any food, miss?" A kindergartener with brown hair tied into two buns asked. She wore a navy blue jacket over a pink and rainbow shirt, and a navy skirt.

Hamuko pulled out a box of 'takoyaki' and handed it to the kindergartener. "Thanks, miss!" The child proceeded to happily wolf down the food, which Hamuko smiled fondly at. "I'm thirsty! Do you have anything to drink, mister?"

Minato pulled out his can of Mad Bull he 'purchased' and handed it to the child. She didn't need to know how Minato acquired it. Minato grinned as he watched the upbeat kid quickly chug the energy drink down.

After she was done, she turned to the two high school students. "Hehehe, you guys are nice! Will you come play with me?" Hamuko looked to Minato, who smiled and nodded.

"Of course we will!" Hamuko answered the child in a sweet tone.

"Alright, sure." Minato shrugged.

"Okay~" The child jumped hopped happily and outstretched her hands. "My name is Oohashi Maiko!"

"Arisato Hamuko! It's nice to meet you, Maiko-chan!"

"Arisato Minato. Let's go have some fun, yeah?"

The three played on the jungle gym and equipment until it became dark. "Look, it's getting dark…" Maiko pointed in the direction of the sun. It was indeed setting.

Minato sighed, and checked his wristwatch. "Well, you oughto go head home now, Maiko."

"But, I don't wanna go home yet." Maiko complained. "…I don't like it there." Minato raised an eyebrow, and Hamuko bent down to match her eye level with her own.

"Why not, Maiko-chan? You can tell us; we'll help you." Hamuko comforted in a soft tone. The grade-schooler suddenly broke into tears.

"W-Well, mom and dad are always fighting! I-I'm afraid that t-they'll get a divorce!" She stuttered in between sobs. "I tell t-them I want us to be h-happy, but they don't listen!" Minato and Hamuko exchanged looks of concern.

"Don't worry, Maiko-chan! We can play together another time, and your parents will stop fighting soon!" Hamuko assured.

"Promise?"

"Promise!" Maiko nodded and wiped away her tears.

"Okay, I feel better now. Hey, we're friends now, right? Ad you said you guys would come play again with me, right?" Minato and Hamuko smiled and nodded. Maiko perked up almost instantly. "Okay! I have cram school on Sundays, but I'm free the rest of the week!"

Minato looked over to the sun. "You know what, Maiko-chan? I think we can play a little bit more before we go. How's that sound?" He asked, clapping his hands together.

"Yay!" Both Maiko and Hamuko cheered at the same time.

_Thou has established a new bond…_

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Hanged Man Arcana…_

"But you two have the same last name! It's like you two are like my _real _mom and dad!" Maiko pointed out. "Can you be my parents instead?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

Hamuko began blushing at the implications of that sentence. But Minato, being the person he was, played along. "Of course, Maiko-chan! We'll be your parents!You don't mind, right Hamuko-chan?" He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in close. Minato could feel her face heating up like an oven.

Maiko was enjoying the show quite a bit, even beginning to laugh from her smaller giggles. "Hehe! You two are funny!"

Minato eventually spared Hamuko, releasing her from his grip, and continued to play with Maiko until the sun finally went down.

* * *

**Bookworms Used Books, 5/7, After School**

Minato and Hamuko walked into the bookstore. It didn't seem like there was anyone else who visited the store regularly.

"Welcome!" Bunkichi greeted. "Oh, you two came back! What was it… You are… Hrmm…"

"Hamuko and Minato!" Hamuko said cheerily.

"Ahaha! I'm just joking, I know who you are! I'm not _that _old, yet." The old man chuckled. "My wife and I were just talking about you, Minato-chan and Hamuko-chan."

"What was it about…?" Hamuko narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"Don't worry, Hamuko-chan." Mitsuko assured. "It's not what you think; we were just discussing how nice it would be if you came over today."

Bunkichi suddenly pulled out a massive plastic bag filled to the brim. "Do you two like _melon bread_?" The split second that the old couple blinked, Bunkichi's hands felt much lighter and saw the bag already in Hamuko's hands, and everyone began laughing.

After Bunkichi wiped away his tears from laughing, he continued. "Alright, alright. I suppose we don't really need that sack of baked dough. You two can enjoy it."

"Thanks, Bunkichi-chan and Mitsuko-chan!" Hamuko bowed, holding the bag in front of her.

"We really appreciate it." Minato added.

"You two are quite polite, aren't you? I wish _he _had been that way…" Bunkichi muttered.

"He?" Minato questioned with a slight tilt of his head.

"Our son…" Mitsuko answered sadly. "He…"

"Now, now, dear…" Bunkichi walked up to his wife and wrapped her in a hug, which she returned. He turned to the younger 'couple'. "I'm sorry, you two. We shouldn't be saddening you two with this scene. Besides, he'll be back soon, right dear?" Mitsuko only buried her face into her husband's shoulder and began to sniffle.

"Our son… He… disappeared one night and never came back." Mitsuko explained, earning a shocked gasp from Hamuko and a look of concern and worry from Minato.

"D-Disappeared?!" Hamuko almost shouted. "B-But, how?"

"We're not sure, but we know that he disappeared when we were asleep. He was only 7 years old, too…" Bunkichi's voice started to break up. "I hope I'm not making you two uncomfortable, Minato-chan and Hamuko-chan. It's just…"

"No worries." Minato reassured. "I understand that it was a tough time for you two."

Hamuko decided to stay silent and look down to her shoes. She wasn't always good at comforting people, but Minato seemed like a natural at it.

Bunkichi cleared his throat, attempting to make the situation less awkward. "Well, why don't we talk about something a little happier? That was in the past, and there's no use dwelling over it, right? That's what you youngsters think about all the time!" He laughed. Mitsuko smiled and chuckled.

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Hierophant Arcana…_

* * *

**Wild Duck Burger, 5/8, After School**

"I'm mentally exhausted…" Yuko seemed very tired, indeed. "Well, it isn't actually anything major." She added, completely contradicting her look.

"What happened?" Minato asked before taking a large bite out of his burger.

"Well, Mr. Ekoda wanted to talk with me. He wanted to know why I turned in a blank quiz." She explained.

"I'm surprised that guy actually cared about his students doing well." Minato joked. "Though I guess it's probably just for his job."

"Haha, yeah. I don't think he would really care otherwise, huh? But he asked me if I had any motivation, and I had to answer honestly; I didn't."

"It didn't go well for you, I'm guessing."

Yuko let out a large sigh. "Nope. Ekoda exploded and started to yell at me. He even yelled at me about the length of my skirt! Who does that?!" Her voice was rising, and she almost stood up. She quieted down once Minato reminded her of the other patrons still in the restaurant. "But seriously!" She said in a quieter tone. "Who cares about Classic Lit, anyway? I didn't even do anything wrong! And now I have to write a 3-page essay reflecting on my performance in class! Nobody else has to write it, either. Just _me_!" She jabbed a thumb to herself angrily.

Minato sighed in response. "Just put up with it. You can't argue with teachers like that, anyway."

"Yeah, but…"

"You want to graduate, right?" Minato asked. Yuko let out a sigh that indicated she did, and looked down to her half-eaten fries. "You have no choice. Unless you want to repeat his class; which I'm sure you don't, then suck it up and deal with it. It's how I've been getting through life." He replied honestly. "And besides, once you're done with his class, you don't have to worry about crappy teachers anymore. You could really do anything you wanted!" He smiled.

Yuko's frown eventually matched Minato's smile. "Yeah, you're right… You're right!" She lifted her head to look at Minato's face. "Minato-kun! Suddenly, I feel really fired up and ready to work!"

"That's good. Make sure you keep it up for the rest of the year if you wanna survive high school."

Yuko fist-pumped, attracting the attention of patrons again. "You bet!"

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Strength Arcana…_

"But I hear you're pretty smart, Minato-kun." Yuko raised an eyebrow, but still smiled.

"That's me." He confirmed.

"You know, my reputation as an 'intellectual' might be ruined if you keep hanging out with me. I must look like an idiot with you, haha."

"Not at all, Yuko-chan. You're quite smart, too." A light pink dusted Yuko's cheeks.

"Y-you're supposed to play along, Minato-kun… Geez. And don't you like Hamuko-chan?" Yuko retorted. "How do you think she would react if she saw you acting like this to other girls? Like me!"

"Hmm…" Minato adopted a thinking pose and looked up to the ceiling. "Yeah, I don't think she would appreciate it." He agreed. "But in terms of liking her…"

Yuko and Minato heard a gasp coming from the booth behind them. And then the sound of someone clearing their throat followed. "…She's a nice girl. I definitely wouldn't mind her as a romantic partner."

"Wow, so it is true! But you don't have to act all cool and calm about it, you know. You can be a _little _embarrassed about it." Yuko offered.

"Eh, I just don't really get embarrassed, that's all."

"Is that so…?" Yuko suddenly wore a devious grin.

"What are you planning…" Minato's eyes narrowed, but he was still smiling slightly.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about it, Minato-kun. Why don't we head home now?"

The two of them stood up. "Sure."

"Oh, but I need to grab a couple of things while I'm still here. Why don't you go on ahead?"

"Alright." With that, he stepped out and disappeared behind a wall.

Once Yuko confirmed that he was gone, she hissed over to the booth behind her. "_Hey! Hamuko-chan, he's gone!_" Yuko looked over to the opposite booth. Hamuko was sitting inside, wearing a large trenchcoat and fedora and trying to hide her face in it.

"He can still find ways to embarrass me even when he doesn't know I'm here…" Hamuko whined quietly. Yuko could only barely make out her words from how muffled they were.

"But you heard what he said about you! Aren't you happy about _that_, at least?" She mentioned, getting Hamuko to lift her head from inside the trenchcoat. "Everyone's seen the way you look at him; you've obviously fallen in love!" Yuko teased. Hamuko only groaned in response as her face became flushed.

"That sounds about right. At first, I just thought it was some kind of special attraction to him, but I guess that's what love is, huh?" She sighed dreamily. Then she suddenly became riled up. "But how does that guy not get embarrassed?! We need to figure out a way to embarrass him, Yuko-chan. I don't think I can sleep knowing that that guy is _too _cool for his own good. I'm too much of a sucker for mysterious guys, you know." She admitted without any shame.

"Heh, guess they _are _pretty attractive guys. But, I really need to get going before Minato-kun starts wondering why I'm taking so long. Talk to you later, Hamuko-chan?"

"Yep!" She replied cheerfully. "(_But do I really like Minato-kun…? I've hardly known him, and yet it seems like I've known him for so much longer…_)" Hamuko thought to herself as she took off the heavy trenchcoat and fedora. She was beginning to sweat in the damn thing. "(_We'll see if I really _do _think of him as more than a friend. With this next plan…_)" She snickered evilly.

"Why are all the nuts coming to this place today…" Hamuko heard Junpei mutter.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Done! Next chapter will be the exciting and anticipated _full moon event_! Yes, after all of this boring social link stuff, we finally get into some more action! This fiction has a distinct lack of that, you know. Not many places to include it in outside Tartarus or full moons. Anyway, time for reviews!**

**Yoshikunitsu: Thanks for the support! I'm surprised that most of the things I make up on the spot aren't rejected horribly, so that's good. And as you can tell, Minato x Hamuko is my favorite pairing as well, and I'm definitely going to have fun writing this story!**

**Gerson: I think that's alright; Persona Q already seems pretty different. I wouldn't doubt that they changed the battle system a fair amount, but it wouldn't be a _bad _change, right?**

**RomanceDagger: Really? If you say so! And yes, I would probably nap during the battle too, if I were Minato. Those guys can handle themselves; what you need is sleep.**

**Spisant: Fair enough, I wouldn't criticize any writing in a language I'm not completely familiar with (i.e. French) and it's completely understandable that you can't provide criticism for me. As for your personal opinion, I never really considered including other ideas from other fandoms and such until now. I might have a few ideas for that, and I can try my best to fit it in if it would improve the quality of the story, but I can't make any promises.**

**titan. p. medusawitch: Don't you love tsunderes? (Is that plural for tsundere? I dunno)**

**Aniki120: I'll do my best to make Minato's backstory even more interesting! In fact, that little passage at the beginning was only the... beginning. I try to include a fair amount of humor in my fic, just so the social link chapters aren't anything to suffer through, and maybe instead something to look forward to instead. Thanks for the Fav/Follow! Greatly appreciated!**

**Uvon: Glad you like it! That *applause* kind of makes me wish my story was turned into an anime, but... We know it won't go _that _far. I mean, I'm awesome, but not _that _awesome.**

**This time... Daaaaamn, 7 reviews! You guys really reacted to my 'begging' last chapter! Keep it up! As always, any criticism is appreciated. _Anything _at all, like my grammar, how I'm writing the characters, even personal opinions about where you want the plot to go will be considered!**

**I have some news regarding the update for next chapter. This week, I'm actually rather busy, and may not have as much time for writing. The next chapter won't need as much time to write, but expect a late update. **

**Anyway, with all that said...**

**See you all for the next chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Haha, I lied! Not only did this chapter come out on time, it ALSO wasn't about the full moon event (I promise that'll happen next chapter)! Overall, I was pretty proud of this chapter when I wrote it. You'll see why once you start reading it. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Atlus. I don't really think I need to say I don't own Persona, do I? If I owned Atlus, then I would own Persona anyway, so... Ahhh, whatever.**

* * *

**Iwatodai Dorm 3****rd**** Floor, 5/9, Morning**

Hamuko heard knocking on her bedroom door. She was sleeping in because school was canceled that day; some kind of unscheduled staff meeting. Grumbling, she eventually hauled herself out of bed and went to answer the door. Her disheveled and messy hair was draped over her simple, white sleeping gown.

"Hello?" The door creaked open slowly, but no one was there. Instead at her feet was a small bouquet of flowers. Acacias and Pink Camellias. Attached to it was a note.

It read: "_To Hamuko, my love. I have longed for you for far too long, and I can hide it no longer. I have prepared a bouquet of flowers for you; the Acacias, representing concealed love, and the Pink Camellias, representing a longing for you. For now, I have lived with you as your friend, but I dearly wish that we may become more than just that._

_From, your secret admirer"_

Hamuko stared blankly at that last line for minutes on end, thinking about who or even _what _might send her a letter like this. She had many admirers at school, but none that would go as far as sneaking into her dorm and leaving a proposal of love in front of her room. How had they even figured out which was her room to begin with?

She shook her head furiously. "(_No. It's probably just Yukari-chan trying to pull a prank on you. Get yourself together, Hamuko!_)" But she noticed the handwriting wasn't Yukari's. Rather than her large and curvy handwriting, it was a more bold and neat kind of style. She stepped back into her room and changed out of her sleepwear and into her casual wear; a light orange sweater and red plaid skirt, along with a red scarf and boots. Her black stockings finished off the look; it took her longer to change into casual wear than into her uniform.

Going down to the first floor of the dorm, the lounge was completely deserted. All except for a familiar blue-headed individual reading a book and enjoying a cup of tea, much like Mitsuru does. "Oh, hey." He looked up from his book and waved to Hamuko, who gave a lazy wave back.

Hamuko took a good look at how Minato dressed, since this was her first time seeing him in casual wear, or at least the first time she would get a good look. He was wearing something significantly simpler than Hamuko was wearing; a light gray jacket with dark pants and a khaki turtleneck. His signature blue headphones were dangled around his neck.

Hamuko walked up to the couch he was sitting on and sat down beside him. "So, what are you doing indoors today?" She asked.

"Nothing I have to do." He responded immediately.

"What are you reading?"

"Mitsuru's novel. It's in French, so I don't really get it."

"Why are you reading it, then?"

"Nothing I have to do." He repeated.

"Don't you have friends to hang out with?"

"Not really, no."

"No homework or anything?"

"Already done it."

"Where is everyone?"

"Not here, obviously." He sighed, getting tired of answering Hamuko's torrent of questions.

"(_Starting a conversation with this guy is impossible…_)" She decided to ask him a question that would really throw him off.

"Did you leave something in front of my door this morning?" Her innocent smile became smug when Minato looked up from his book again and turned to Hamuko.

"What do you mean?" He asked, seemingly confused.

"You know… A bouquet of flowers, a love letter… Know anything about that?" She asked, almost desperately, trying to get answers from him that were actually useful.

Minato chuckled. "No, I don't think so. Why don't you ask the others about it? Might've just been someone pulling a prank on you."

"Well, how many people in here would actually pull a prank on me, or anyone for that matter?" She retorted. "I know for sure that Mitsuru-senpai wouldn't do something like that, neither would Akihiko-senpai. Yukari-chan and you are the only people who are the same age as me, and I don't think I'd pull a prank on _myself_!" She directed her hands towards herself, to emphasize her point. Minato's gaze remained impassive. His uncaring eyes frustrated Hamuko, and she turned her body forward, grumbling.

They remained like this for several minutes when Minato finally broke the ice. Sighing, he began to speak. "Well, since you're here and you don't seem to be busy, why don't you come with me somewhere?" He offered.

Hamuko's red eyes brightened up. "Where?"

"Anywhere you want, I guess. Not much to it. I'm bored and you're bored, so why don't we do something together?" He persuaded with a relaxed smile.

"A-Are you asking me out?" She stuttered, blushing slightly and looking away.

"You don't have to think of it as a date," He explained. Hamuko swore he silently added 'yet' to the end of that sentence. "Just a friends' day out. How's that sound?"

Hamuko's shoulders relaxed out of relief and she turned back to Minato, nodding happily. "Sure! Let's go!"

The two stood up, and Hamuko walked towards the double doors leading outside. As she stepped outside, she heard someone behind her mutter 'mission accomplished'. She tuned and gave wicked glare to Minato, whom he just laughed out loud. "Did you like my plan? Believe it or not, Yukari-chan was instrumental in it, too." He confessed. "She wanted some gossip to go off of, and I wanted a 'date' with you."

"Humph!" She turned away with a frown, but looked back with another smile that Minato was getting used to seeing. "Well, if you don't mind, I'll be keeping those flowers." With that, she walked out of the dorm.

"Of course." He finally responded, despite Hamuko not being able to hear it. He followed Hamuko, and left the empty dorm behind for some time out on a 'date.'

* * *

**Port Island Station, 5/9, Morning**

Hamuko and Minato had come to Port Island Station, ready for a movie marathon. Hamuko had made sure to bring plenty of money just in case Minato decided to ditch again.

"So, what do you want to watch, Minato-kun?"

"Whatever you like." He stared at the movie displays. Posters ranging from overly cheesy romances to flashy and poorly-made action films were shown, but one movie in particular stood out for Hamuko.

"How about… Phoenix Ranger Featherman R: Revelations? Sounds… interesting, if anything."

The two stared at the poster for it in awkward silence. On the poster were the six members of the supposed team, standing side by side. Behind them was a large and shadowy figure of a robot with glowing red eyes. The title was printed in bold, orange letters that were modeled to stretch out behind them.

Overall, it certainly seemed it would be a new experience for them.

A large crowd of people exited through the vomitorium of the theatre satisfied. The movie turned out to be targeted towards a much more mature audience, despite being based off a children's show.

"Somehow… that was a lot better than I had expected." Minato said, frazzled after working his brain much more than he thought he would.

"Yeah," Hamuko breathed heavily. "I didn't expect _that _to happen, of all things."

"No kidding. So, what do you want to do next?"

"I think… We should go to…"

* * *

**Hagakure, 5/9, Lunchtime**

Hagakure. That's where Hamuko wanted to go. "(_All this girl really wants to do is _eat_._)" Minato mused in his mind, diving back into his own bowl of extra-large ramen. Hamuko had already polished off her sixth bowl, but unlike Minato, he was taking his time.

Except, he wanted to give her a run for her money. It would be fun, after all.

"Hey. Want to do an eating contest?" Minato asked Hamuko once she rose from her spotless bowl. "First person to complete the Hagakure challenge; that is, twenty bowls of extra-large ramen, wins." He thought for a few moments. "The loser has to pay for our meal _and _they get to choose where to go next."

"You're on!" Hamuko pointed a finger at Minato with a determined look.

"…And each bowl has three extra eggs." The once-determined auburn-haired girl gulped noticeably and started to shudder. She could never handle eggs very well; they gave her terrible gas and felt like she ate miniature atomic bombs that went off in her digestive tract.

They were one of her only weaknesses for her when it came to food.

Gulping again as the extra-large bowl was set in front of her; she took deep breaths to prepare herself for the assault on her stomach that was to come. This won't have a very pleasant result later.

* * *

**Game Panic, 5/9, Afternoon**

The two friends left Hagakure and made their way to Paulownia Mall, or more specifically, the arcade. Plenty of boys like video games these days, and Minato was hardly an exception.

Too bad for him that he was getting his ass handed to him for every game they played. Junpei, who happened to be spending his day there, was enjoying the spectacle of gaming Hamuko was putting on for him.

"God dammit!" Minato hissed for the umpteenth time after he fell into the same trap again. Street Fighter wasn't treating Minato very well.

"Stop complaining!" Hamuko hissed back. "It's not my fault you suck at video games!"

"Yeah, well I never got the chance to play them when I was young. My parents always thought they were evil," Minato chuckled.

"(_Strange… Why does that sound so familiar?_)" Hamuko thought to herself. That gave Minato the necessary distraction to pummel Hamuko's character into the ground and steal a victory. "Hey!"

"I win." Minato grinned, outstretching a hand. Junpei grunted and fished out a 2000 yen bill from his pocket and slapped it onto his hand.

"Keep it. Bill was getting crumpled anyway…" He mumbled, annoyed. "But are you sure you two aren't out on a date?"

"I honestly couldn't care what it was, Junpei. It's _Hamuko-chan _who's a little more sensitive about it." Came Minato's reply. He nodded his head in the direction of his other friend.

"Hmmm?" Junpei drawled to Hamuko.

"W-What? I-It's not a date! Just a _friends' _day out, right Minato-kun?" Her voice got lower and more threatening as she reached the end of her sentence. It was accompanied by a killer glare that simply Minato shook off, as always.

"Yep. Friends' day out."

"Hehe, but Yuka-tan said something about Hamuko-chan liking ol' Minato-dude, here!" He slapped his friend on the back. Minato gave a smile that said 'you caught me'. "She's been spreading rumors about it, too! And she doesn't want rumors about _her _to be spread. Tch, what a hypocrite."

Hamuko's face began to blend in with the color of her scarf. "M-Me, liking Minato-kun?! And Yukari-chan is spreading those rumors…"

"And… You know, you two spending a day together… _alone_, no less doesn't really help." The baseball-capped magician laughed.

"If you'd like, Junpei-kun could come with us." Minato offered. "Then it wouldn't look so much like a date, would it?"

Hamuko shook her head furiously. "N-No, that's alright Minato-kun… I think it's fine to be spending time… with you…" She trailed off, looking down to her boots. By now, the scarf looked like a part of her face.

Junpei nudged Minato on the shoulder, and whispered in his ear, "_She's totally got the hots for you, man! Nice one!"_

Minato chuckled silently and whispered back, "_I know."_

* * *

**Iwatodai Strip Mall, 5/9, Afternoon**

Junpei suggested the two head to Iwatodai Strip Mall, since he couldn't come with them. He felt like it was his duty to suggest potentially date-worthy locales the 'couple' could spend their time at.

Junpei's idea of 'romantic' was awfully garbled, though. Fast food restaurants and run-down train stations were not what either of them had in mind, even if it wasn't supposed to be that kind of relationship.

"Want some takoyaki, Hamuko-chan?" Minato pointed a thumb to Octopia.

"Nah… I don't think my stomach can handle anymore." The blue-haired teenager laughed.

"Full already? I could go for a Peta-wac set or two at Wuck right now…"

"Why'd we come here anyway? There are just restaurants here!" Hamuko exclaimed, telling them to look around. Restaurants.

"Aw, I'm sure we'll find something." Minato replied. All the two found there was to do was to visit the two bookstores in the area; Book-On and Bookworms. Hamuko's excitement for all of the books in the elderly couple's store and Minato's contrary energy levels was enough to bring a little more enjoyment into the day for Bunkichi and Mitsuko, and they all felt closer upon leaving the bookstore.

"It's getting late…" Hamuko looked over the cityscape and saw the sun beginning to set. "I guess we oughto go home, huh?" She began to walk in the direction of the dorm, before Minato grabbed her arm, making Hamuko blush slightly.

"Wait. There's one more place I'd like to go before we go home."

* * *

**Naganaki Shrine, 5/9, Evening**

It was so quiet at the shrine that you could hear the wind blowing the dust around the old stone tiles on the ground. The jungle gym's swings rocked back and forth slowly before the two took a seat on them. "Why'd we come here, Minato-kun?"

"It's always so quiet here and relaxing… Don't you think?" Minato asked, staring in front of him and turning to Hamuko.

Hamuko took a brief look around her surroundings. "It's not really much to look at… What do you mean?"

"Look up…"

She did what she was asked, and gasped at the sight she laid her eyes on.

Before them was a beautiful night sky filled with thousands of stars, all twinkling and sparkling in their own unique way, and all of them forming constellations around the breathtaking full moon. The starry sky expanded across the entire part of the sky the two could view, somehow defying all the light pollution coming from the city.

"Wow… This is amazing…" She eventually managed to tear her vision away from the sight and look over to Minato, who had a smile she had never seen before on his face. A smile that showed he really did appreciate what he was seeing and one that showed he really was at comfort and peace here. A smile of nostalgia and devoid of any regret. It was…

A genuine smile.

His smiles had always seemed a little 'off' to Hamuko. Like they were fake, and like they were friendly and nice, but really had no underlying meaning to them. But this smile that he wore right now… Hamuko's face eventually crept into a soft smile like Minato's, and the two entwined their fingers together.

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the World Arcana…_

The minutes eventually felt like hours as they stared into the endless void above them. A sight like this could never get old. "(_I guess… I really do…_)"

"(_Love him._)"

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Bam! And just for clarification, Minato wrote the love letter and left the bouquet in front of Hamuko's room as a prank, or as a 'plan' to get a date with her. And if it wasn't obvious already, they DO both like each other, except Minato's a lot more casual about it, that's all. And I somehow keep thinking of brilliant ideas right on the spot! Awesome. Although I felt the writing style for this chapter may have been a _tad _different than the others (up to you whether it's better or worse), criticism is a nice thing to see in reviews! Keep em' up! Speaking of reviews...**

**Yoshikunitsu: Glad you're liking my story, and ME, for that matter! I should really follow in your footsteps, I don't review stories often enough. XD And I really like how Minato acts, too! Sometimes in real life, I fancy myself as the Minato in my story. But it's safe to say I'm still pretty far from that. :P**

**Gerson: Who knows? It might end up being in its own dimension or something, I dunno. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**Uvon: *applause myself* Thank you, thank you, you're too kind. (my impression of a "modest" theater performer)**

**Guest: Me too. Me too. It ain't gonna stop for her soon, either! At the rate this story is going, it'll NEVER end for her! *insert evil laughter here***

**RomanceDagger: Sometimes I wish I could be like that... Minato's suaveness will strike again in the future! Who knows when...**

**Alright, five reviews this time around! Thanks for the support! You guys think I can get chapter 10 out before the end of this year? Really, that depends on ME... Anyway, look forward to an action-packed full moon chapter next time! **

**Anyway, with all that said...**

**See you all for the next chapter!**

**EDIT: Who wants to think of a better movie name than "Phoenix Ranger Featherman R: Revelations"?**


	10. Chapter 10

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yo! Looks like I got chapter 10 before the end of this year after all! Anyway, here's the full moon chapter, as promised! Next chapter we'll switch back to the normal social linking (it'd be nice if we could make it to the next one within ten-or-so chapters) and that'll stick around for awhile. Enjoy the action-packed fun!**

**Disclaimer: I only own this story, and the _awesome _that comes with it. But Persona and Atlus are too awesome for me to handle right now, so I couldn't possibly own them in my current sate, but later... *evil chuckle***

* * *

**Iwatodai Dorm 4****th**** Floor, 5/9, Dark Hour**

Akihiko's fist smashed the alarm button repeatedly as soon as she detected something amiss. Within moments, the entirety of SEES was assembled inside the command room.

"We're here!" Yukari said impatiently. Junpei and Hamuko were having a hard time staying awake from the unexpected wake-up call.

"Where… Where is it…?" Junpei yawned, and tried to refocus himself. "I'll rip it a new one!"

"Yeah, senpai…" Hamuko said groggily. "What's the problem?"

Mitsuru calmly turned to her juniors. "We've detected a shadow outside of Tartarus." Everyone, except for Minato, was shocked and instantly woke themselves up. "We're not entirely sure, but it's most likely a large and dangerous shadow."

"You mean…" Yukari trailed off. "…Like the one that attacked the dorm? Last month?"

Mitsuru nodded. "Precisely."

"T-Then we've gotta defeat it! Before it destroys half of the city or something!" Hamuko exclaimed, completely awake and alert. "Where is it?!"

"It's been detected outside of Iwatodai Station. We will travel there as soon as we're prepared." The red-head turned to her fellow senior. "Akihiko, you stay here and wait for the chairman."

"Wha- Are you kidding?!" He shouted, surprised. "I'm _going_!"

"You still need to recover. You'll just be a hindrance." She reasoned.

"Aggh! That's complete bullcrap!"

"Listen to what Mitsuru-senpai has to say, Akihiko-senpai." Minato chimed in. "You haven't fully recovered. You'll hold us back, and further delay your recovery."

"Yeah, but-"

"No." Minato raised his index finger, gesturing him to be quiet. "We can handle this. You'll get your chance later." His senior eventually calmed down and resigned to his duty with a dissatisfied grunt.

"Thank you, Arisato-kun. As I was saying, we must hurry to Iwatodai Station and defeat that shadow as soon as possible. Understood?"

"That basically just means we gotta kick some ass, right? You bet I understand!" Junpei pumped his fist.

Yukari could only sigh in disdain. "Stupei…"

"Don't worry, senpai! I've got it covered! Leave it to _me_!"

"…" Akihiko grunted. "…You're in charge this time." He pointed a finger to Minato.

"…Why me?" He asked, though he didn't look like he cared; rather, he was just curious. "Why not Hamuko-chan, like it's always been?"

"She's still more inexperienced than you. I'm not risking all of our juniors for something this important. I hope you understand, Arisato-chan."

Hamuko nodded without any objections. "Understood."

"H-Hey! What about me!" Junpei complained. "Shouldn't _I _be the one leading this one?"

"Hardly." Yukari's swift and blunt answer crushed Junpei's confidence instantly. It didn't help when she rolled her eyes too.

"Alright, team. Let's head out." Minato directed lazily.

**Iwatodai Station, 5/9, Dark Hour**

"Where is she?" Yukari asked, breaking the silence.

"Ah, she'll be here soon." Junpei waved off. He proceeded to take a drink from his water bottle, and promptly spat it out once he realized he was drinking blood instead.

Ignoring Junpei's complaints of disgust, Yukari looked up to the sky. "There's a full moon tonight." Hamuko blushed slightly as she remembered what happened just a few hours ago. The station didn't quite offer the same view the shrine did. "And it looks even creepier during the Dark Hour…"

The sound of a motorcycle drew everyone's attention to the speeding object moving towards them. It slowed down when it approached the four other teens and the rider dismounted. "Sorry to keep you waiting." Mitsuru apologized. "Listen carefully." She received a nod from everyone. "Tonight, I will be providing support from here. Everything, other than the male Arisato taking up the leadership position, will be the same. The shadow is currently located within a monorail not far from the station."

"And to get there… We'll have to walk on the tracks?" Hamuko guessed, half-joking. She and Junpei proceeded to freak out when they got a nod from Mitsuru.

"Calm down. Electronic equipment is not operational during the Dark Hour, so it should be fine." Mitsuru explained. "The monorails should be dead still, making it a simple task to enter, eliminate the shadow and exit before the end of the Dark Hour."

"Then what about your bike, senpai?" Hamuko asked with a tilt of her head.

The person in question smiled smugly. "It's special. Regardless, if circumstances change, you'll be notified immediately. Let's begin."

* * *

**Monorail 10/11****th**** Carriage, 5/9, Dark Hour**

Even Minato winced at the brutality of the slaps Junpei received from the two females. Peeping up skirts, especially the skirts of those two, wasn't the brightest idea. Minato made a mental note of that when the girls sent a warning glare his way.

"…Anyway, let's go." Minato mumbled.

"Hey, guys, why were the doors wide op-" Hamuko was cut off as soon as the doors closed abruptly. Minato attempted to throw his sword and jam the doors, but ended up with a hole in the window instead.

"√\__Arisato…_√\_" Mitsuru's irritated voice simply invoked a shrug in Minato. "√\__Anyway, it seems the enemy had prepared a trap. Proceed with extreme caution._ √\_"

"Got it, senpai." Minato gestured to follow. "C'mon, guys."

**Monorail 9/8****th**** Carriage, 5/9, Dark Hour**

"The hell? There're no shadows here!" Junpei exclaimed in mild surprise.

"I know," Yukari agreed. "It's so quiet here it's creepy…"

Right on cue, a shadow that had a book for a head dropped down in front of them.

"What the-" She barely managed to stutter, before Minato delivered a wicked kick to its 'abdomen,' literally sending it through the monorail doors and into the next carriages. They could see the shadow picking itself up and fleeing.

"√\__Ahem. Arisato, I would like to see some more awareness of your surroundings from now on. All this damage you are causing to the environment is unacceptable._ √\_" She scolded. "√\__If you're unable to comply, the other Arisato will take over and you will be _thoroughly _punished._ √\_"

Minato gulped. "Yes, senpai. I understand."

"Haha, while you're busy getting lectured, I'm gonna go chase that shadow down!" The magician declared. "I'm coming for ya, punk!" He charged into the next carriage with his katana dangling over his head.

"√\__Wait!_√\_"

"What are you doing, Stupei?! Don't just run off!" Yukari shouted and ran after him.

Minato sighed. "Just what the enemy wanted. Guess we oughto chase em', eh Hamuko?"

She nodded, her face heating up after noticing Minato didn't use an honorific. "Right. But first, we gotta take care of _these _goons, first." She jabbed a thumb to the side. Three Spurious Books were behind them, preparing for an ambush. But fortunately for the two Fools, they reacted in time to counterattack.

Charging forward, Minato lunged with his sword, badly wounding one of the Spurious Books. Hamuko charged as well, using her naginata as a vaulting pole and impaling one of the books, killing it instantly. The still-healthy book began to manifest a red and evil aura around itself, and condensed it into a block of ice, and launched it at Hamuko.

"Hamuko! Head's up!" He shouted. Whipping out his Evoker, he summoned Orpheus to cast Agidyne and melt the block of ice.

"Whoa! Thanks, Minato!" She shouted gratefully, also forgoing the honorific.

"I want you to summon Orpheus, Hamuko! Then, cast Agi and aim it towards one of the shadows!" Minato directed.

"Got it! Orpheus!" The female version of the famous musician emerged from Hamuko's soul and strummed her harp. A ball of fire appearing from thin air flew at high speeds towards one of the shadows. Minato charged again, this time slashing the fireball and blasting the two remaining Spurious Books with a blanket of flames. The wounded shadow disintegrated into a dark cloud, and the other book frantically slammed itself into the walls of the monorail, eventually finishing itself off.

"√\__Excellent job, Arisatos. From what I can tell, Iori and Takeba are only a few cars ahead. Hurry!_√\_"

"Alright, let's go."

**Monorail 5/4****th**** Carriage, 5/9, Dark Hour**

"**There they are**!" Hamuko exclaimed, pointing a finger in front of her. Junpei and Yukari were surrounded by all manners of shadows; Heat Balances and Spurious Books, as well as Dancing Hands. The Heat Balances looked like cross-shaped scales colored orange and blue; the Dancing Hands were literally pink and white polka-dotted hands with a small head where the arm would be. "C'mon, let's help them out!" Hamuko waved her hand forward.

"Oh, thank goodness you guys are here!" Yukari shouted in relief, though not letting her guard down. "Stupei got us into a heap of trouble, and we're getting overwhelmed!"

"Aw, shaddup, Yuka-tan! You didn't hafta follow, you know!" Junpei retaliated. 'I got it all under control!" His tone sounded cocky to hide the grateful tone that came from Yukari's help.

"√\__Arisatos, engage the enemy!_√\_"

"Roger that, senpai," Minato responded. "Let's kick some ass."

Minato leaped forward, sword behind him and dragging along the monorail floor. He raised the sword up and delivered a deadly upward slash to the Spurious Book that was about to attack Yukari. "Thanks!"

Hamuko slowly took a few steps back, having been targeted by a Heat Balance and Dancing Hand. She held her naginata up defensively, preparing to block or dodge and counter an attack. The Dancing Hand made a move first and jumped, planning to give the girl a wicked slap. However, she expected this, and dodged out of the way, giving it a brutal wound after stabbing it with the sharp end of her spear. The Heat Balance cast an Agi skill, but missed and engulfed the Dancing Hand in flames. Hamuko took this chance to leap behind the shadow and smash the scale with the blunt end of her weapon, knocking it in the direction of Junpei. He quickly noticed this and chopped the shadow in half, turning it into dust. Hamuko finished the burning hand off with a dive stab using her naginata. "Haha! High five, Hamu-tan!"

Yukari was being attacked by another Spurious Book and Heat Balance. She nocked an arrow at lightning speed (thanks to her recently feverish training in Archery Club) and fired it at the Heat Balance with deadly accuracy. It impaled it right in the cross-section, and it disintegrated. The Spurious Book attempted to blow Yukari and her teammates back with Magaru, but she heroically braved all of the spell's effect, since she had a resistance to wind. Unbeknownst to Yukari, the spell blew her already-short skirt up, giving Junpei a nice treat for his eyes. She began to blush when she realized what just happened. "W-Wha?! Stupei!" She yelled, threatening to nock an arrow and point it in his direction.

Minato dashed towards the final Spurious Book and thrust his sword right through its head, quickly pulling it out and then finishing it off with a stylish combo attack. He sighed after the fight was done. "Moving on… Wait!" He raised his arm to block his team from progressing.

"Eh? What is it, Minato-kun?" The naginata-wielder tilted her head, holding her weapon in front of her.

"…" Minato stayed silent when the entire monorail shook suddenly. "Tch… I figured this would happen."

"W-What would happen?" Yukari said, confused and beginning to panic.

"Oh, don't tell me…" Junpei trailed off. He figured out what was going on.

"Exactly, what you're thinking, Junpei." Minato confirmed.

"√\__The monorail is under the enemy's control! You have to stop it as soon as possible, or it'll crash into another train!_ √\_"

"_What?!" _Both of the girls shouted. The boys cursed under their breaths.

"Fuck. We have to get to the front of the train, ASAP! Move!" Minato commanded firmly, though his composure still remained intact.

"√\__I estimate you have approximately 8 minutes to reach the front of the train before it crashes! The enemy will no doubt attempt to stall you for as long as possible, so stay alert!_√\_"

"√\__You have 6 minutes remaining!_√\_"

"_Move faster, everyone!_" Minato shouted as he summoned Orpheus to flatten the shadows in their path.

"√\__5 minutes!_√\_"

"Oh god, oh god, oh god!" Yukari practically shrieked, picking up her firing pace. The shadows were sniped before they even got a chance to notice them.

"How much time do we hav-"

"√\__Only 4 minutes! You're almost there!_√\_"

Hamuko rolled her eyes despite the situation. Did she really have to cut her off?

"Look out, Hamu-tan!" Junpei jumped out of nowhere and sliced the shadow behind her in half.

* * *

**Monorail 2****nd****/1****st**** Carriage, 5/9, Dark Hour**

"√\__Three minutes before the monorail crashes!_√\_" Mitsuru's voice warned. But the four members of SEES couldn't help but gape at the scene placed before them.

It was a woman wearing a pink party mask with long hair sprawled out on the wall. Its body was seemingly divided into two; one side was colored black, and the other white, though the hairs on their respective sides were the opposite color. Along with the skirt it was wearing (even though it had its legs spread wide open), it blocked the door to the front car and was certainly an interesting sight. The letters 'B' and 'J' were inscribed on its black and white breasts, respectively.

"What the hell?! Is this the freaking boss?!" Junpei couldn't help but yell.

Minato sighed, unable to hide his slight disturbance. "Yep. It is."

"B-But it's blocking the front car! We gotta kill it, or _we'll _die!" Hamuko pointed out.

Yukari was just getting irked at what she was seeing. What kind of enemy looks like this, anyway?

"√\__You must hurry! There is no time to waste!_√\_" Mitsuru shouted frantically over the inter-com.

"You heard her. Engage the enemy, guys." Minato ordered, swinging his sword in front of him and getting into a battle stance. The other three copied him, and they all charged into the fray.

Drawing her bow back, Yukari fired her first shot, hitting the Priestess straight in between the eyes. It screeched in pain and flailed its arms wildly, summoning some Muttering Tiaras and stopping the chargers from coming any closer. "God damnit!" Junpei cursed, as he summoned Hermes to help defeat them.

"Take out the big one before it summons anymore!" Minato ordered, cutting through more shadow flesh.

"Got it!" Hamuko raised her Evoker to her temple. "This'll speed things up." She fired it, and almost collapsed this time from the skill she used.

"Hamuko-chan!" The brunette shouted in concern. Hamuko simply waved her off, and regained her balance.

Above Hamuko were not one, but two Personas. One of them was the familiar Angel, and the other was Archangel, a man that wore knight's armor and donned lofty angel wings. An average-sized sword was cradled in his hands. "Justice to them all…" Hamuko muttered.

Angel and Archangel raised their arms and sword skyward, respectively, and swung them down at the same time. All the shadows suddenly began to cringe, as if a wave of pain settled upon them. They burned brightly from the holy energy searing them away. Eventually the light settled down, and the shadows fell to the ground, not quite dead, but exhausted and badly injured from the attack. The large shadow looked the same.

"I'm impressed. You figured out a fusion spell like that?" The leader commented.

"Yep!" Hamuko chirped happily. "Igor told me about them and said I could do em' too!"

"Eh? Who's Igo-" Yukari and Junpei simultaneously said.

"√\__Two minutes before impact!_√\_" The two instantly whipped their attention back to the shadows.

"Got it, senpai." Minato finished off the nearly-dead Muttering Tiaras and looked over to the boss. "Junpei, I want you to summon Hermes and charge in there."

"Alright, consider it done!" Came an enthusiastic reply from Junpei.

"Yukari-chan, fire a few arrows off to the side in order to distract it while Junpei charges it." Minato directed.

"Got it!" She nodded.

"Hamuko, I want you to stay behind and cast spells at it from a distance. Remain at a defensive stand-point, and attempt to cancel out any spells used by the enemy." She nodded.

"Ready? Go!" Minato jabbed a finger forward.

Like they had planned, Junpei summoned Hermes to charge in with him. Yukari aimed at a few… choice spots in the shadow to draw its attention away from the potential kamikaze. The shadow screeched at the pain it was enduring, but stopped momentarily as it began to mutter something.

"Orpheus! Agi!" Hamuko called out, sensing the shadow was trying a spell. Large spikes of ice appeared and flew at everyone, but Orpheus' fireballs melted them, turning the spears into splashes instead.

Meanwhile, Minato was preparing another attack of his that he was no doubt buying time for. He closed his eyes and twirled his Evoker and placed the Evoker to his head. "Titania!" Blue glass shattered on the other side of his head, and a beautiful blonde woman with fairy wings wearing a green dress fluttered behind him. "Magarula!"

Violent winds began to roar outside, shaking the entire train.

Mitsuru seemed to realize what he was trying to do, and praised him for his cleverness and creativity. "√\__Excellent, Arisato. By casting that spell, you're slowing the train down!_√\_"

"Great…! That gives us…! Time to kill this…! Thing!" Junpei grunted in between words.

"How much time have we got, senpai?!" Yukari shouted while focusing on where to place her next shot. All the satisfying-to-shoot spots were already filled with arrows.

"√\__With Arisato slowing the train, you have approximately three minutes remaining! Don't dawdle!_√\_"

Everyone's attention was drawn to the Priestess shadow once again as it started to flail its arms even more wildly. In just a few seconds, dozens of Muttering Tiaras appeared, and all of them charged at the same time. "Whoa!" Junpei yelped. "How many of these guys are there?! It's a freaking army!"

And all at the same time, they seemed to cast Dia, giving their summoner more than enough healing energy to close all of its wounds. "Crap! What do we do?!" Hamuko shouted over to Minato.

Minato stopped his casting of Magarula and whipped out his Evoker. "Hamuko, do you have a Persona called Pyro Jack?"

"Pyro Jack…" She muttered, searching through her mind for something that would resemble that. "Yeah, I do!"

"Good. Now, on the count of three, I want you to summon your Persona. I'll summon one of mine, and we'll do a fusion spell together!"

"Together?" She just settled for shrugging it off and complying.

"One…"

"Two…"

"…Three!"

"Persona!" They shouted. Above Minato was a cute figure that looked like it would resemble Jack Frost. It looked like a snowman with a face, blue hat and other pieces of clothing. Hovering above Hamuko was a ghost with a Jack-O-Lantern for a head and a witch's hat, as well as a cape and lantern in its hand. "Jack Brothers!"

"Wait, Jack Brothers?" Hamuko questioned. She didn't know where that came from. Minato just looked over and smirked.

The two "Jack Brothers" made a stage appear out of nowhere and began talking in a strange language into a microphone.

"What the…" Yukari started.

"…Hell?" Junpei finished.

There was a collective thud from all the shadows in the car. All of them had been knocked down, and were completely vulnerable. Snapping everyone out of their confused trance, Minato ordered: "**All-Out Attack!**"

"Heheh, let's rumble! Hermes!"

"You don't stand a chance! Io!"

"Let's send em' back to hell! Pyro Jack!"

"They'll freeze at the sight of us," Minato chuckled. "Jack Frost."

"**Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge!**" Everyone had their own battlecry running into the pile of stunned monsters. The carnage of shadows was great; Junpei and Hermes were cutting into them like he was a chef chopping vegetables, only they were giant and Junpei isn't a chef. Yukari could easily pierce several Tiaras with one arrow when Io blows them into the air, perfectly in line.

Hamuko practically engulfed herself in fire and every shadow she hit burst into flames, writhing in pain. "I'm just _that _hot," She giggled.

Minato somehow managed to encase himself into a block of ice and turned himself into a human ice torpedo, and launched himself at the Priestess. It smashed smack dab in the center of its chest and exploded in a manner very similar to an actual torpedo. To finish the job, he quickly swung his sword to the side, cutting through the now-frozen flesh with ease. Stepping back, he jumped onto a nearby monorail seat, flipped around and kicked the shadow straight in the mask, slamming its head into the back of the door. Summoning Orpheus, he set the shadow alight and continued hacking and slashing at it. With one final blow, he formed a massive sword of ice and cleaved it right down the middle. It made disgusting gargling sounds as it melted into a small puddle of black blood.

But the train kept on going. "What the! Why isn't the train stopping?!" Junpei panicked.

"Oh god! Are we gonna die?!" Yukari shrieked.

"√\__Hurry! You have less than one minute until impact!_√\_"

"The controls!" Minato pointed a finger to the door the large shadow was previously blocking. He had to drop his awesome ice sword to do that, though. "We need to find the brake!"

Minato and Hamuko dashed into the control room and frantically searched for a switch that would slow the train down. Minato didn't have enough spiritual energy to sustain another Magarula strong enough to stop the monorail.

"√\__Twenty seconds!_√\_" Even Mitsuru's voice became unusually tense.

The overly complicated controls were too much for the two to handle; too many switches and buttons, and barely any labels to go with them.

"√\__Ten seconds!_√\_" Her voice began to break up.

"Hey, isn't that…" Minato pointed to a spot underneath the controls. A red lever clearly labeled 'EMERGENCY BRAKE' rested there. It even had black and yellow tape outlining it.

"Oh. Pfft, of course." Hamuko let out a sigh of relief and casually pulled the lever. The monorail jerked backwards from the sudden reduction in speed and the screeching sound of wheels on rail pierced their eardrums. But the train stopped painfully close to another train, making the two Fools cringe at how close they were to getting killed.

When all of the teenagers exited the monorail that people would question how it magically warped to the next station, did they notice something in the distance.

"Tartarus…" Yukari muttered breathlessly.

"Damn… It's freaking cool-looking from here…" Junpei scratched his head. It was certainly an aweful sight to behold; they all saw Tartarus towering in all its glory, basking in the eerie green light of the full moon. Even the structure itself seemed to glow and radiate a green aura.

Hamuko's hand found its way unconsciously to Minato's hand for the second time that day.

"I almost don't want to get rid of Tartarus now that I've seen this; it's amazing." Hamuko admitted, and the other three nodded while staring blankly at the marvel. "Especially if I can see it with you…" She muttered, her cheeks having a slight tinge of pink on them.

"Oh? What was that, Hamu-tan~?" Junpei teased.

"Huh? N-No, you've got it all wrong!" She waved her hands in front of her, as if that would help prove her point. "I-I meant with you _guys_! Not just Minato-kun!"

"Sure, sure." Yukari laughed, now distracted from Tartarus and beginning to walk back to Port Island Station.

"Grr! It's not like that, guys! Guys!" Hamuko shouted while running to catch up with the rest of her group.

Overall, it was an exciting night for SEES.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Watch as Hamuko's hand "unconsciously" makes its way to Minato's hand! Awwwww so romantic**

***ahem* That was, more or less, my first time writing something with this kind of action with it. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with how I described the scenes, being the Assassin's Creed-obsessed person I am right now, I had to throw at least a _couple _of fancy moves in there! "Dive stab using her naginata!" "Finishing it off with a stylish combo attack!" "FREAKING ICE MISSILE DUDE" "Jumped onto a nearby monorail seat, flipped around and kicked the shadow straight in the mask!" Or is that just my sad attempt at trying to write a cool battle scene? **

**Enough with my current obsession with Assassin's Creed! Time for reviews!**

**Yoshikunitsu: Are you sure, dude? I saw a guy in my high school who was cosplaying as Connor (from AS III). And also, nice job for cosplaying as Minato in school! Do you act like you normally do, or do you try to get into character? _I'd _think I'd make a pretty damn good cosplay of him. And I also wish I could be that casual when it comes to females...**

**RomanceDagger: Oh noes! :O Now that you've said it, I can't brainstorm at all anymore! Although me thinking of ideas on the spot isn't always the instant I begin writing them, I think of them fairly close to when I start writing about it. Occasionally, I go: "Lalala, I wrote this scene and it's fine and al- Wait, if I write it like _this _instead, it'll be better! Perfect!" and end up with something like the flower scene from chapter 7. And I'll do my best to keep it up, thanks!**

**Uvon: I do have great talent at writing, thank you. Either I'm getting better at it _really _freaking quickly or I was already good at it to begin with and I was just being unknowingly modest. Minato is still the smooth devil he's always been, and Hamuko's always been the punching bag for teasing...**

**titan. p. medusawitch: Yep, Hamuko finally gave into her thoughts and realized her love for our favorite blue-haired emo! I'm excited about this too, and you should look forward to more romantic interaction between the two!**

**Spisant: Oh ho ho! I never said that I would make them kiss so soon! I want to build up the romantic tension between them first, and then make em' kiss it out! But yeah, still haven't completely decided when that should happen. Heheheh...**

**Animefan111: I think just about everyone wants them to be a couple already, but the casual love is gonna stick around for a long time. Don't worry, I'll make it interesting, though! Personally, I think romance is better when they like each other for a long time but stay as friends for a long time. Who knows what might happen in this story? And everyone wants to be the casual yet wickedly attractive troll Minato always is! Endless amount of fun, and it'll be a cinch to nab the girl ya like!**

**Yami no Majou077: You're welcome. And... Uh, thanks for the *muack*. Appreciate it!**

**Nice, seven reviews again! I honestly couldn't ask for more (except criticism, of course) and I would be really happy if this kept happening! Anyway, holiday break has finally come to me! Depending on how busy I am (and how lazy I'm feeling), expect more chapters over the holidays! Now my new goal is to finish this story by the end of _next _year! Let's see... One chapter a week, fifty-two weeks in a year... Nope. Not gonna happen.**

**Anyway, with all that said...**

**See you all for the next chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yeah, sorry about that. I got _really _lazy when I figured I might have a break from writing for a week. This is a longer chapter this time around to make up for my lateness. As a result, my writing may have gotten worse over the time I wasn't writing so I apologize in advance if it isn't quite up to scratch. Though this is a chapter where I'd definitely be able to pick out some of my favorite parts. Enjoy! Let's see how long it takes me to put out the next chapter...**

**Disclaimer: Geez, guys. You don't need to get so Personal about this disclaimer stuff. Atlus I say these things in the beginning so nobody bothers me about it. (Persona and Atlus aren't mine.)**

* * *

**Paulownia Mall, 5/10, After School**

Hamuko had accompanied Yukari to Paulownia Mall for shopping, as per Yukari's request.

"What do you wanna do now? Karaoke, maybe?" She asked. The two were standing in the middle of the mall, numerous large bags dangling from their hands.

"Mmm…" Hamuko hummed. "How about… the arcade!" She suggested, pointing in its general direction.

"Eh? The arcade?" Yukari stuttered, surprised at her friend's suggestion. "I didn't know you were into that, Hamuko-chan!"

Hamuko grinned sheepishly. "Well, I, uh, went to the arcade yesterday with a couple of friends and I had a surprisingly good time," She replied, being careful to leave out the part about who one of those friends were.

"Oh?" Yukari tilted her head, suddenly interested in going to the arcade as well. "Y'know, I haven't played any video games in a while. I might be willing to give it another chance if you say it as fun-" Her pondering was cut off by a childish scream.

A young boy was standing in front of Chagall Café, calling out for his mother. Instinctively, Yukari hastily walked up to the forlorn child. "What's wrong?"

"M-My mommy… S-She's not coming!" His explanation came out muffled from the sleeve he was crying into. "She gave m-me money, but she's not here!"

"Hey, don't cry…" Hamuko comforted the child with a soothing voice. "I'm sure your mom didn't forget you."

Yukari nodded. "Just stay with us until we can find your parents." She glanced around and sighed. Something caught her attention and she pointed it out. "Hey, look! We can get help from the police station!"

After dropping off the kid at the police station, and having been relieved at hearing his parents had been found, the two high school students slumped down onto a bench.

"Y'know, I didn't think you were that kind of person," Hamuko joked, copying Yukari's earlier teasing. "You helped out that kid without a second thought."

"Of course I would!" She replied, slightly miffed at Hamuko's assumptions. "No kid deserves to be left alone like that! What were his parents thinking, anyway?!"

"Are you sure? It might have been just a misunder-" Hamuko began.

But the angry brunette continued on with her rant. "No! They're supposed to be responsible for their children! I mean, it was already bad enough that we had to step in to begin with! What do you think might have happened if we weren't there?" She stood up with her fists clenched.

Hamuko sighed in defeat. "I… suppose you're right, Yukari-chan."

Yukari sighed as well, relaxing once again and sitting down on the bench. "Sorry about that. It's… just that I get really pissed when I see that happening."

"…How come?" She knew it might have been insensitive of her to ask that, but Hamuko didn't sense her anger reignite.

"Well…" She let out a heavy breath through her nose, preparing to give an explanation she wasn't too proud of. "It's mostly because of the situation with my mom."

"You did mention you two weren't very close…"

She nodded in confirmation. Her light brown eyes sparked in fury. "Anyone who'd ask what kind of person my mother is, I'd respond: 'A terrible one.'" Hamuko flinched at the harshness of her friend's words. "She wasn't always like that, though…" She added, sensing Hamuko's reaction.

"Well… What kind of person was she before she… changed?" Hamuko offered.

"She was… A great mother, I think. Caring and kind, capable and protective. After what happened to dad, though…"

"I… see."

"To be honest, she's probably living with one of her boyfriends somewhere." She snarled. Her teeth gritted together in disgust. "I'd rather not even know."

Hamuko could only look down in silence. She couldn't find a good way to respond. Yukari looked right into Hamuko's eyes.

"You're the only person I've ever told about this… So please don't mention this to anyone."

"Of course, Yukari-chan. You have my word!" She gave an exaggerated nod.

Yukari giggled in response. "Thanks, Hamuko-chan!"

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Lovers Arcana…_

"Now what was that about the arcade?" Yukari reminded her energetic friend.

"Oh yeah!" Hamuko exclaimed, perking up in realization. "To the arcade!" She dashed off into Game Panic.

"We might look kind of weird in there… Two high school girls with shopping bags… Spending their afternoon in an arcade…" She mumbled, rolling her eyes. Picking herself and her bags up from the bench, she ran after Hamuko. "Wait up, Hamuko!"

* * *

**Gekkoukan School Library, 5/10, After School**

Meanwhile, in the Gekkoukan High School Library…

Chihiro sighed in frustration while Minato, who was sitting beside her, tried to reassure her.

"A treasurer who's no good at math…" Chihiro mumbled dejectedly. Minato's sweat dropped. "Why was I chosen to be treasurer anyway…?"

"You need to give yourself more credit than that, Chihiro-san. I'm sure you were picked for a good reason."

"But, why me…?" She drawled. Then she stood up. "Why?! This is frustrating; I never even wanted to be chosen as Treasurer!"

"…Sit down." Minato chided. Both of them felt the glares of many on them.

Chihiro felt her face getting red from the attention they were getting, and promptly sat down. "I-I'm sorry."

"Why're you complainin' about being Treasurer anyway?" A student across the table asked.

"Yeah, some people would _kill _to get a spot on Student Council, you know." The student beside him added. "I'd be pretty grateful for it." The two returned to their studies, where they were complaining about it and flirting with each other.

"Grateful…? Why would you be grateful for being given a job you can't even do?!" Chihiro growled, although she made sure to lower her voice that time.

"I can see what you mean. That feeling of uselessness, where many people depend on you, but you can't help them." Minato said with an empathetic tone. "I've experienced it many times already…"

"What do you mean, Minato-san?" She looked up with an expression of curiosity.

"Ahh…" He scratched the back of his head. "It's rather difficult to explain. Maybe some other time."

His acquaintance nodded. "I-I really do wish I didn't have that feeling, though. They could have chosen someone better for this job."

Her acquaintance shrugged. "Just grin and bear it. You heard what those two students said." He jabbed a thumb in the direction of said students, who gave him a weird look. "Some people would _kill _for your position in Student Council. You should work hard to make sure the system doesn't fall apart around you, right?"

"I-I suppose so…"

"Not to mention, having a spot in Student Council could also help work out some of your, you know, personal problems." Minato's persuasion managed to incite a reaction out of Chihiro.

"Y-You're right! Not only am I helping others, I'm also improving my own strength of character!" She exclaimed, unconsciously standing up again and raising her voice.

They ended up getting kicked out of the library.

**Chagall Café, 5/10, After School**

Having nowhere else to go to talk, the two headed to Chagall.

"…Anyway, you're right, Minato-san! That's already good reason to keep working at it!" Chihiro nodded, determined.

"There are lots of different kinds of people you can meet working in Student Council. It would be good to get used to that kind of thing."

"You mean people like you?" She laughed.

Minato laughed as well. "Sure. (_She's already beginning to open up to me…_)" He thought as they took a seat and ordered their drinks.

"Like you said, I never would have met anyone like you had I not joined Student Council! And you've shown me how I can use my position to help myself and others. So…" She looked straight into Minato's eyes. "Thank you!"

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Justice Arcana..._

"Thank you." Chihiro said as they received their drinks. They continued to chat until it became dark.

* * *

**Iwatodai Dorm 1****st**** Floor, 5/10, Evening**

Minato strolled into the dorm casually while Hamuko walked downstairs from the second floor, still slightly bitter at Yukari's untapped skill in video games. She lost much money this day, from both shopping and arcade tokens.

*RING!*

Coincidentally, both of their cells sounded at the same time, startling everyone there, except, of course, Minato.

"Hello?" Minato answered lazily.

"Hello!" Hamuko chirped energetically.

"√\__Hello!_√\_" Minato heard Elizabeth's calm yet slightly giddy voice.

"√\__Hello there._√\_" Hamuko heard Theodore's deep and charming voice.

"Wait," Both Hamuko and Minato began. "How did you two get our cell ph-"

"√\__We are calling to notify you of a change in the structure of Tartarus._ √\_" Elizabeth and Theodore spoke at the same time. The two Fools exchanged puzzled looks. "√\__It appears a path that was previously blocked has been opened. I believe it is now possible to climb further up in Tartarus. We would also like you to visit the Velvet Room soon. We have prepared something helpful to aid you in your journey. That is all._√\_"

*CLICK!*

"That was…"

"Strange."

"I… think I'm going to head out now…" Hamuko spoke slowly, still dazed, as she made her way to the doors.

* * *

**Paulownia Mall, 5/10, Evening**

As luck would have it, Hamuko ran into Rio just as she was about to walk into Mandragora and sing some karaoke.

"Oh, hey Rio-chan! What are you doing here?"

The black-haired girl, who was standing in the middle of the mall, scratching her head and huffing in frustration, turned to the owner of the voice. "Hm? Oh, what's up, Hamuko-chan?"

"Nothing, I was just about to go into the karaoke place," Rio nodded. "Wanna join me for a few rounds?" She offered.

"No, that's alright. I just came to look for something. But apparently there are no lost-and-found places in Iwatodai." She sighed.

"Well, what are you looking for? I can help you." Hamuko offered, no longer interested in karaoke and instead more interested in helping her friend.

Her distressed face and saddened eyes suddenly lit up like fireworks. "Really? Oh, you're the best!" She ran over to Hamuko and gave her a huge hug. "I lost my tennis racquet somewhere."

The auburn-haired girl tilted her head in confusion. "Tennis racquet? Can't you just buy another one or borrow one from school?"

"That's the thing. I can't find a single sports store in Iwatodai, and the school's too damn cheap to supply any equipment!" She angrily complained. "Besides, that racquet has great sentimental value to me."

Deciding that was enough reason to help Rio search for her racquet, Hamuko nodded without hesitation. "Okay, then!"

Rio hopped in joy and gave Hamuko another bear hug.

**Iwatodai Strip Mall, 5/10, Late Night**

Somehow, their search had taken them all the way to the now quiet and eerie Iwatodai Strip Mall. Rio's unconfidence of the racquet's location was mostly to blame.

"No, no, I was sure I left it here…" She mumbled.

"Isn't that what you said the last _three _times, Rio?" Hamuko pointed out, her patience beginning to waver. She was surprised she managed to keep herself composed the entire time.

"Yeah, yeah," Rio rolled her eyes, ignoring the veracity of her complaints. "Just keep looking, I know for a _fact _I placed my racquet here while I was eating tako- Hey!" Her sudden rise in voice startled Hamuko from her foul thoughts of Rio as she ran off into a random alleyway.

"Rio-chan! Don't just go running off to- Yikes!" Hamuko paled slightly at the sight. Before them were three back alley thugs, the one in the middle holding a familiar tennis racquet.

Paying no mind to the situation, Rio began shouting at their presumed leader. "Hey! That's my racquet! Give it back!" She outstretched her hand to allow them to return it.

Predictably, they didn't. The leader settled for laughing at Rio instead and began to speak. "Haha, you ain't getting this back, girlie!" The thug waved it in the air, taunting Rio. "Our boss needs this piece of junk for whatever reason, and you ain't gonna get it!" Rio's blood was boiling. "Dunno why boss needs this trashy thing. You can't even smash anyone's face in with it. Ah well. We got paid good money, so we ain't gonna fuck this up. Now get outta the way. Boss didn't want us to kill anyone, so you're lucky." He laughed.

Hamuko complied, but Rio dared to stay in the way. "Rio, it's too dangerous, don't be so stu-" She gasped as Rio shoved the ringleader and grabbed her racquet.

"You just made a mistake, _bitch_…" The leader growled. The two other thugs pulled out knives. "Ya know what? I might just kill you two after all! Get em'!" He commanded. The two thugs charged.

"Shit!" Hamuko cursed, before quickly grabbing a nearby broom and aiming it towards the face of the thug closest to Rio. He recoiled in pain and staggered backwards. Noticing the other thug, who was dazed from Hamuko's ability to fight back, Hamuko shoved the bare end of the broom into their stomach and swung it upwards, knocking the thug down and covering his face in dust.

"Hamuko! Watch out!" Rio shouted. The previous thug recovered and attempted to backstab Hamuko with a dagger held over his head. But Hamuko thrusted the broom behind her and hit the intended recipient of the attack square in the chest and turned around to deliver a wicked kick to the thug right in the crotch. The thug keeled over in pain and collapsed to the ground.

Sensing things suddenly took a turn for the worse, the ringleader was forced to pull out a weapon of his own. More specifically, a gun. The two teenagers froze at the sight of a gun barrel being pointed at them.

"Hand over the damn racquet," He gestured with his hand, copying Rio's earlier actions. "Now."

"…" Seeing as there were no options, and how even Hamuko couldn't fight their way out of this one, Rio reluctantly handed over the racquet.

"Heheh, that's it. Now time for you to die-"

Right on time, the Dark Hour set in and the thug transmogrified into a coffin, gun and racquet seemingly levitating beside it. And as expected, Rio transmogrified as well.

Just as Hamuko was about to retrieve the racquet for Rio, a sharp voice made her freeze. "Stop." She turned to the voice. Stepping out from the shadows wasn't a Shadow, but rather another teenager. He had blue hair, glasses and was wearing a green jacket. He was carrying a silver briefcase in one of his hands. "Give me the racquet."

"…" Her eyes widened in surprise from seeing someone else not part of SEES active during the Dark Hour. She snapped out of it and tensed her muscles, ready to spring into action at any time. Someone else who was active during the Dark Hour was certainly a cause for alarm to her.

"What? Surprised you and your little group aren't the only people who have the potential?" He chuckled. "Whatever. Hand it over. Or else."

She gritted her teeth, knowing there was nothing she could do against another potential Persona-user. She didn't even have her Evoker or a proper weapon to fight with. Grabbing the still-floating racquet, she handed it over to the mysterious stranger.

He seemed to fiddle with the racquet for a few moments, trying to do something with the handle. The top of the handle came off, and a peculiar object dropped into his hands. He placed the top back and tossed the racquet back to Hamuko. "Here. I don't need it. Thanks for your co-operation," He mocked, before disappearing into the shadows once again.

She sighed in relief. "(_Crisis averted. Now what to do…_)"

Hamuko ended up waiting out the rest of the Dark Hour and trying her best to drag Rio's transmogrified form out of the alleyway and to somewhere safe. She also took the thug's gun and placed it on the top of his coffin for fun.

**Iwatodai Station, 5/11, Midnight**

Once the Dark Hour passed, Rio jumped at where she was. She was lying down on a bench somewhere near Iwatodai Station, with Hamuko (who was trying her best to act surprised) sitting beside her.

"Eh?! What happened?" Rio asked, understandably surprised at her sudden change in location.

"You passed out." Hamuko lied. "I got your racquet back for you, though." Rio sat up and took her racquet from Hamuko.

"Strange… It's a lot lighter than I remember…"

"Uh, that's probably your imagination, haha." She laughed nervously. She hadn't thought about that; that object that was taken out from the racquet was apparently pretty heavy.

"Regardless, I'm really glad we managed to get it back. I definitely couldn't have done it without your help."

"I'm never getting into a fight for a tennis racquet ever again." Hamuko solemnly stated.

"Haha, well I'm glad you did that time. Even gladder we got out of there unscathed. I can't really handle myself in a fight…" It was really thanks to those trips into Tartarus that helped her in that fight. She was forced to quickly learn how to wield a weapon to fight against enemies arguably far more dangerous than a few punks. Rio nodded happily. "Thanks so much, Hamuko-chan!"

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Chariot Arcana…_

Hamuko blinked a few times before rubbing her somewhat sweaty forehead. "(_That's a hell of a lot of work for a social link rank-up…_)" She thought bitterly.

"Well, I'm going home now. My folks are probably worried about me. Don't worry, I'll be okay walking home." Rio reassured.

"Alright then. Take care!" Hamuko waved as she walked off.

* * *

**Classroom 2-F, 5/11, After School**

Minato and Hamuko were just packing up their belongings and getting ready to leave school when a certain strict and stern-looking student approached them.

"Minato-kun and Hamuko-chan, I need you two to report to the Student Council Room immediately. There is an activity you are required to help in." He briefed, face looking slightly pale.

"What kind of activity, Hidetoshi-kun?" Hamuko asked, tilting her head.

"It's… a matter related to exams." The Disciplinary Supervisor turned to the door. "We'll discuss this in the Student Council Room. Don't take too long.

With that, he stepped out of the classroom. Previously spectating students began to gossip.

"Wow, I wonder what happened…"

"Yeah, I know. Even Hidetoshi would never resort to asking for help like that."

"Why's it so important that they can't talk about it here? Makes it seem suspicious…"

"'A matter related to exams…'? Did one of the teachers mess something up?"

"…" Minato closed his eyes briefly, and then turned to Hamuko. "Let's go. Don't want to keep him waiting."

"Hm?" She was listening to the gossiping, but Minato's reminder got her refocused. "Oh, right. Yeah, let's go!" She nodded with a beaming smile on her face.

**Student Council Room, 5/11, After School**

When the two walked into the Student Council Room, they didn't see its members involved in a heated discussion or getting work done, but rather all of the members, save for Mitsuru, sitting or standing around. All of them distressed or deep in thought. The lights were also off and the windows covered, leaving the only light entering the room from the hallway.

"Ah, you two." Hidetoshi greeted. "Close the door, make sure no one gets in." A student they didn't even notice when they walked in shut the door behind them, alerting Hamuko.

"H-Huh? What are you guys up too…?" Hamuko narrowed her eyes suspiciously, and tensing her muscles to get ready for another fight.

"Hamuko. Calm down." Minato said.

All of the members sighed. "Relax, it's not what you think." Hidetoshi reassured. "We just require your help in an exam-related issue. We just closed the doors and shut the lights to make sure Mitsuru doesn't come in here."

"Mitsuru…? Now I'm really confused." Hamuko's red eyes only barely managed to make out Hidetoshi's increasing levels of anxiety.

"She can't find out about what we're doing. This matter related to exams…" Hidetoshi started. Another person they also didn't notice continued.

"W-Well, the teachers ran into a problem, and they came to us for help…" Chihiro explained. She was clearly unsure about whether or not they should be doing whatever it was they were doing.

Hidetoshi sighed. "To put it bluntly, the teachers couldn't write the exams and now _we _have to do it."

…

…

"Wait… You're kidding, right…?" Hamuko half-joked. Her expression said otherwise, though.

All the members shook their heads. "Oddly enough, we have no other means of obtaining exams much of the Student Body to write. All teachers are busy, and no other exam covers the lessons taught thus far."

"Well, when the teachers ask students completely random and off-topic questions, I'd expect that." Minato chuckled, and everyone else chuckled in response, although making sure they don't make too much noise. "But whatever. Sure, I'll help you guys 'write' exams."

"Huh?! Are you serious, Minato?! Isn't this kind of… wrong?!" Hamuko argued.

"Shhh!"

"Pipe down, would ya?!"

"Do you want Mitsuru-senpai to come in here?!" All of the other members warned in a hushed tone.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. I can see why it'd be important to get tests out," Minato said in a sagely and understood manner. "I'd also see why Mitsuru-senpai would disapprove of this right away and…" He gulped. "_Execute _us." Almost all of the males in the room shivered.

"Thank you, Minato-kun. As for you, Hamuko-chan…" He began. "Will you agree to help us, or will you run off to Mitsuru and get us all _executed_?!"

Hamuko gulped, but quickly regained her composure. "Fine, I'll help. I don't know if I can actually _make _an exam, though…"

"Ah, don't worry." Minato said casually. "I'm sure it'll be a piece of cake."

* * *

Wrong.

They were certainly capable students. _Students_, that is. Not teachers, who knew what they were doing when creating an exam tailored to what the students learned. The only real experience they might have had in this was simply writing a little practice test or quiz, not _exam_, just a few questions for their younger sibling as an obligation to their parents.

The subject they were working on just happened to be mathematics. Hamuko and Chihiro could only barely wrap their head around the complex formulas of the senior exams, while all the other members were having a grand time blazing through junior tests.

Minato could write out any of the exams in record time, so they were sticking him with all the tough-to-do stuff, and helping out the struggling girls with their exams, turning the exam writing session into more of a tutoring session for them. He wasn't actually helping their attention span though, since Hamuko would blush and turn away if Minato gently moved her hand so he could write something down, and Chihiro would get distracted and watch their interactions with each other and compare it to the manga she reads.

Hidetoshi was struggling slightly with it too, although he definitely enjoyed writing the exams relating to World Issues. Those students were going to have a hard time with _that _one.

Of course, there were a few instances where they were in danger of getting caught by someone. Sometimes, some students would be looking for a place to chat and gossip, and decided the best place to do so would be right in front of the Student Council Room, making everyone incredibly nervous. Other times, people would actually unlock the door and step in to see busy students working in the dark with desk lamps. It scared the crap out of them, but they relaxed when it was just a teacher pleased with the amount of progress they made.

And then there were those times when they swore Mitsuru herself walked by the Student Council Room, and would pause in front of it when she heard the sound of pencil on paper and slight grunts of frustration. There couldn't be students in there; all she could see was darkness in the door window. Someone couldn't have placed a paper over it, could they?

Occasionally, Mitsuru would be speaking with one of the teachers in front of the room. Every word exchanged between them that sounded even remotely related to the Student Council would put everyone (even Minato) on edge. Everyone even felt bad for Mr. Ekoda when they heard his terrified voice when he spoke to Mitsuru and she was getting suspicious of him. Not to mention Mitsuru was confused as to why her key to the Student Council Room suddenly disappeared and the principal refused to provide her with another one "because of examination reasons. You should be studying, not working at Student Council." She became even more confused; as the President, shouldn't she focus her efforts more on that anyway?

Eventually, though, with the combined efforts of everyone in the Student Council, all of the exams were made and sent off to the teachers for them to copy. And miraculously, they avoided being caught and executed, which was also a huge bonus.

Before Minato and Hamuko could leave the now-deserted school, Hidetoshi stopped the two. The moonlight shone through the windows of Gekkoukan.

"I want to thank you two for helping us with our endeavor. Without help from you two, the reputation of the school might have been at risk and we could have easily been caught without your… _intel _about Mitsuru and what she does at school."

"Ah, it was fun, Hidetoshi." Minato responded, inducing a blush from Hamuko. "It's no problem. I'm glad to help out."

Hidetoshi grinned. "Good to hear that. I really do appreciate your help with this, though, Minato-kun and Hamuko-chan. If only I could give you some kind of commemoration for this," He chuckled.

Hamuko giggled. "That'd be nice. We kinda worked our butts off in there, huh?"

"If you're gonna give us something like that…" Minato leaned in a little more and cupped his hands around his mouth. "_Just don't let Mitsuru-senpai know._"

_Thou shall receive a blessing when thou chooseth to use Personas of the Emperor Arcana…_

"Hahaha! For sure!" Hidetoshi laughed. "It's getting late, so it'd be best if you two headed home."

"Yeah. See ya." Minato nodded, then turned to Hamuko. "Shall we?"

Hamuko nodded.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Can you guess which Social Link scene is my favorite yet? **

**Reviews!**

**Yoshikunitsu: Don't we all wish we could pick up girls like Minato can? Not like all us _normal_ guyswho can only get along with girls and _maybe _date one or two. But yeah, being quiet doesn't really equate to total badass, huh? And apparently I'm not terrible at writing battle cutscenes, yay! Next is the ASSASSIN'S CREED FANFICTION!_  
_**

**And yeah, this is the closest I've come to 'three months per chapter' so far. Hope it doesn't get anywhere closer than that, huh? Happy New Year to you too, even though it's a little late for that!**

**AnimeFan111: Hgergtvw3gerogjergner to you too! I'm glad you like the action packedness, it's nice to give all of the characters their own spotlight, and it makes the writing more interesting as well. And yes, Minato and Hamuko are finally calling each other without formalities, but that doesn't mean the romance will suddenly SKYROCKET and become another version of Fifty Shades of Gray/Grey (haven't read it, but apparently it's REALLY sexual). I usually prefer the slow-paced romance as well, though that's a little difficult to write in something that practically _is _about romance. But yeah, I find fast-paced romance gets pretty boring pretty fast if the author can't think of good ways to make it entertaining.  
**

**Gerson: Ooh, that's a good idea. Quotes when Minato/Hamuko summon a Persona to use a crazy move or something. I probably will end up using that kind of thing in the future for sure. Thanks for the suggestion!**

**titan. p. medusawitch: More... Mooore... MOOOORRE! I think about doing that too, sometimes.**

**Uvon: Alright, good to hear your opinion on the action chapters, since it's pretty important to include that in a story like this. I'll try to find a way to include more romance and keep the action for the people who like that. **

**Hm. I wonder why I put that survey thing on my profile? Anyway, that part doesn't matter _as _much to me, but I find long-haired girls are prettier, and a lot of the girls I like/liked in the past have long hair.**

**Regarding the rewrite requests, I decided to change my plans for that. Originally, I was going to do a rewrite request at every ten chapters and decide where to go from the results I get, but I've changed my mind about that.**

**Forget about rewriting.**

**At least for now. I'm sorry for the people who absolutely can't stand poor writing and desperately want to take over the writing process or whatever, but I rather reach the end of this story before I rewrite anything. My writing skills will have improved substantially by then, and I had might as well fix chapters when I actually know what I'm doing. I see no point in rewriting and then stopping anyway, since I'd just have a bunch of chapters (which would take FOREVER for me to rewrite) rewritten, but no continuation to it. And since the majority votes that they rather see new content, I'll work on that first. **

**Anyway, with all that said...**

**See you all for the next chapter!**


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